The Sun and the Night
by A Stereotypical Gamer
Summary: Yang catches up with Team RNJR in Mistral. Jaune surprises her with his growth and the changes he's undergone, and the two bond over their shared experiences and trauma. Yang seizes an opportunity when it presents itself to claim the knight as her own... only to later learn her mother Raven Branwen has her own plans for the boy.
1. Adrenaline

**The Sun and the Night**

By A Stereotypical Gamer

* * *

 **Chapter One: Adrenaline**

Yang never thought she'd ever get tired of one of Ruby's hugs. But this one had stretched on just a _bit_ too long. Yang expected the reunion to take a good long while and was quite content to catch up with her dear sister, but she was starting to wonder if Ruby would ever let go. Apparently Ruby had sent a letter to her just a few days prior and the thought that it had somehow summoned Yang to her made Ruby emotional. Yang had been only too happy to indulge her at first, but after a certain point hugs just lost their meaning, and Yang didn't want to reach that point. "Rubes…"

"Little longer," Ruby requested. Yang could indulge her a while longer. She reached up with her right hand to tussle Ruby's hair, before stopping herself. She lowered her right and raised her left instead, hoping the movement went by unnoticed.

Unfortunately, she hadn't quite managed to outpace her speedster sister, who spotted the movement out of the corner of her eye. Ruby released her vice-like grip on Yang's midsection and took hold of Yang's right arm, clamping it down on Ruby's back. Apparently, she was much less self-conscious about being hugged by a machine than Yang was hugging _with_ one.

It'd be a hard habit to break, because she'd always led with her right, and now she was getting accustomed to using her left, just in case it made anyone uncomfortable taking hold of cold metal fingers. Yang was very grateful Ruby wasn't one of those people; but then, she never had been.

When Ruby did finally let her go, Yang turned her attention to Qrow, still recovering in bed. She reached down with her left hand, trying to make that motion appear natural and fluid –rather than as stilted and awkward as it had felt- when she gently squeezed his shoulder. Qrow stirred and looked up at her with a crooked smile. "About time, firecracker."

Yang rolled her eyes, before stepping away a moment to reach down in her knapsack, finding something left behind. "I had to take it slow because I was carrying precious cargo." She found the gin bottle under her more valuable stock of provisions and hoisted it up, keeping a light grip with her Atlesian arm. "You remember?"

Qrow's eyes widened. "Yep. That's the good stuff."

"Good by what definition?" Yang dryly inquired.

"Good as in it cost more than the stuff right below it," Qrow explained.

Yang suppressed a sigh. "Well, I kept it warm. Only way Dad would let me keep it was me promising I wouldn't open it until I gave it back to you… he also said something about me not ending up too much like you, but I wasn't really paying attention. Buy a girl a drink?"

"Don't mind if I do-" Qrow agreed, reaching out from under his blanket before Ruby pounced, pushing him back down.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Ruby intervened, glaring down at Qrow. "You need to rest! You're still working through the poison!"

"But your sister's offering me medicine…" Qrow whined. Ruby sighed, turning her glare to Yang, though she couldn't quite maintain it; she was still too happy to have her big sister back. Yang smiled at her, twirling the bottle in her hand. It was just like old times.

She glanced down at her right hand, abruptly stopping herself and setting the bottle away again. Not _quite_ like old times.

There was a lot to catch up on, and a lot to figure out. They still had to find a way to reach Weiss and Blake, and see if they could get the rest of the gang back together, and apparently there were more –and w _orse_ \- bad guys to worry about than just Cinder and her gang of cronies. Apparently there was something about relics and a pair of dudes who created humanity and Ozpin wasn't always Ozpin? It was all minutiae to Yang. She was reunited with her sister, and they had an objective and steps to take to get there. That was all she needed to go on.

Yang set the bottle back in her pack and sat on the edge of Qrow's bed while Ruby flitted about overhead. She just listened to Ruby and Qrow banter, finally replacing the deafening silence she'd heard on her trip over with the peaceful quiet of her uncle and her sister arguing about how effective gin was at combating illness. Watching Ruby bash Qrow with his own pillow was oddly therapeutic. Listening to Qrow's snark muffled underneath it was all Yang needed to feel at home.

* * *

Though Ruby had been understandably clingy when she'd found Yang again, she'd also refused to leave Qrow's bedside while he recovered, and Yang in turn went to meet her old friends from Team JNPR in the next room over. Unfortunately –well, fortunate but for the poor timing- when she'd gone to knock on the door Yang heard some strange noises reminiscent of jackhammers and decided not to interrupt. All Yang did was stroll away and smirk to herself. "It's about time."

That accounted for Nora and Ren, and Yang could catch up with them at a more opportune time. Instead she turned her attention to the missing blonde, thinking that the sight of him tripping over something might raise her spirits a bit. And she figured out of all the friends she'd found he'd probably have the greatest number of hangups still hovering over him.

Yang could relate to that, thinking about how long it'd taken her to overcome her own trauma. She didn't know exactly how hard Pyrrha's death had hit Jaune –Yang never knew for sure if he realized the truth there or not- but he'd worked through it in a few months and been ready when Ruby asked him to help on her mission. Goof that he'd been at school, he'd stepped up and been there for Ruby when Yang herself could not. And while Yang might not mind laughing at his hilarious incompetence once again, she was quick to remind herself there was more to him than that. There was more to all of them now.

He wasn't inside the inn; Yang eventually found her way outside, gnawing on some hardtack she pulled from her pack. She found Jaune behind the shaky wooden building, swinging his sword out into the empty street, listening to instructions coming from his Scroll, parked on top of his own pack of belongings on the ground behind him.

"…these instructions," came the voice from the Scroll. "Shield up. Keep your grip tight. Don't forget to put your front foot forward."

That voice… it couldn't be.

No, it _could_ be. It absolutely could be.

"Go!" Yang heard Pyrrha's voice instruct from the Scroll.

Yang looked on as Jaune began practicing his motions, thrusting forward, then slashing with such force a burst of air pressure from the weight of his blade pushed aside all the dust on the ground. Yang had to admit he'd improved considerably in both strength and form. She didn't mind the show he was putting on either; farm boy filled out a bit under that new heavy plate of his.

He worked hard and put in some good strikes. After an intense workout, Pyrrha's voice came from the Scroll. "Okay. Assuming you aren't cheating, we can take a break."

Yang suddenly felt very uncomfortable eavesdropping as Pyrrha continued on. "Jaune… I… I-I want you to know that I'm happy to be part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune."

Jaune rewound the video and set himself up to start the training again. Yang figured she might not have a better chance to intervene and didn't particularly want to hear that uncomfortable reminder of Pyrrha's struggle to articulate her feelings again. So she figured she should be direct.

Yang tackled Jaune from behind, pulling him into a tight hug. Jaune reacted with surprising quickness, ducking down through Yang's grasp and taking hold of her sleeve, flinging her over his head with strength and fervor. Yang actually had to invest considerable effort to avoid being slammed into the dirt. "Whoa, easy, Ladykiller!"

Jaune relaxed his grip on Yang's right arm, eyes widening. He just stared at her in shock, eyes moving up and down, taking in the tailed coat, the new shades, and the arm. The first two she didn't mind, but the last one… well, she was used to guys' eyes going up and down in rapid succession or staying in place, but this particular location was still taking her a while to get used to. "Eyes are up here," Yang gently suggested, trying to break Jaune from his shock. "And I'd like the- my hand back."

It was still taking her time to think of it as _her_ hand.

Jaune eventually complied, finally releasing his grip and focusing his attention on Yang's eyes. "Yang," he greeted. "Wow, it's so great to see you! When did you get in? Have you seen Ruby yet? What are you doing in Mistral?"

Having already fielded a long and intense interrogation from Ruby, Yang waved him off. "Whoa, down, boy, one at a time," Yang requested. "Tell you what, we'll swap: you wanna hear about where I've been and what I've been up to, you return the favor. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," Jaune agreed, turning off his Scroll before Pyrrha could say 'again'… again. Jaune was in the process of moving to sheath Crocea Mors when Yang was struck by inspiration and took hold of his wrist in mid-motion.

"Hang on," Yang requested. "I saw you picked up some fancy new moves there, Ladykiller." She gestured at her new arm, then to his sword. "You learn how to do two things at once since you left Beacon?"

Jaune smiled. "Sure, Yang, if you'll take it easy on me."

"At first," Yang agreed.

* * *

He really had become very strong. The new plate Jaune was wearing tanked Yang's punches with ease, and his Aura barely flickered when she hit him elsewhere. He was still slow and his attack pattern very predictable, but he hit like a truck with each swing of his sword. Even when he missed Yang the pressure cutting through the air pushed her back, to the point she was spending more time dodging than swinging. It wasn't her preferred fighting style, but at least she was sparring again. At least Jaune had a sparring partner again.

She clashed the brace of Ember Celica against the hilt of Crocea Mors, trying to pin Jaune's sword long enough to continue the conversation. "So what happened when the horse-faced Grimm showed up?"

"Oh, you'll like this part," Jaune promised, pushing hard against Yang's arm and trying to wrench his sword free. "It tried to attack Qrow and I went to go get him out of the way. The giant Grimm tried to do some crazy stretch trick, so I leapt into action and drew its attention so it'd miss, and then Ren did this cool thing with his Semblance –have you ever seen it?- and we were able to just disappear from its sight and…"

Yang figured he was distracted enough. She floored him with a strong left, finally knocking him down, though she hadn't hit quite hard enough to break through his Aura, just making it flicker a bit. Yang was actually surprised to see him force himself back up, his blue eyes turning intense.

Yang had seen Jaune's fierce side on occasion; he got serious when the situation called for it. But she was so used to seeing a clumsy goofball that she was legitimately caught off guard to see him pull out this other side. Farmboy wasn't quite so boyish anymore.

Jaune smirked as he bashed her flank with his shield, throwing all his weight into it and driving her to the ground. Yang actually stumbled and landed hard and was pinned to the ground beneath him. He landed atop her, face inches from hers', slowly catching his breath after his exertion.

Yang took a moment to stare at those eyes, watching them slowly soften. She realized she was holding his gaze a bit long, and composed herself, releasing her grip on the hilt of Crocea Mors. "Okay, you got me." She decided to push things a bit, see just how much he'd grown. "You wanna' get straight to the point or is there gonna be small talk?"

Jaune realized he was pinning Yang down and in _very_ close proximity. He was quick to leap off her, shaking his head and desperately trying to suppress a faint redness in his cheeks. "Sorry," he said, in a tone meeker than Ruby's, as he sheathed his sword and offered his hand to help Yang back up, looking anywhere but down at her.

Still a boy, after all. Good. Yang wouldn't want him to grow too much without being able to see some of the changes firsthand.

Yang took hold of Jaune's hand and he pulled her up. Once again he avoided looking at her eyes and focused on the metal fingers gripping his own.

Yang felt it… in a way, through senses not wholly her own. Her Dad had tried to explain what science of it _he_ understood, about how the arm sent electrical feedback that imitated the charges that moved through nerve endings. It wasn't exactly the same as if she'd taken hold of Jaune's hand with the fingers she was born with.

But a spark was still a spark.

Jaune finally released his grip on her hand, looking at the ground. Yang realized she had to quickly pull him back before things got any more awkward. "So, Ren has a Semblance?"

"Yeah," Jaune confirmed. "It's a heck of a story."

* * *

Jaune and Yang found their way back into the inn at Yang's gentle prodding, They found a table to continue their conversation, swapping stories of their journey. Yang's trip through Anima hadn't taken anywhere near as long as 'Team RNJR's, apparently because she hadn't accidentally dropped a bunch of maps on her way. The topic shifted to the time right after Beacon fell, and how Jaune and his team held together in the aftermath. Yang couldn't help but laugh at the various antics Ren and Nora went through trying to keep Jaune's spirits up, trying not to be envious of the company he'd had immediately after everything went down.

"So…" Yang began, thinking hard on a topic of conversation. "How are you doing?"

It wasn't quite what she meant to ask, but she was running out of topics. Fortunately, Jaune seemed not to notice. "I'm okay. There were a lot of bumps along the way, but we made it here. We're all okay."

Yang thought back to the video of Pyrrha on Jaune's Scroll. He wasn't training so hard just because he wanted to get better. He wasn't training _away from his friends_ just for their sake. "How are you _really_ doing?"

Jaune was quiet for a long stretch before he spoke again. "There's just so much I didn't know before. I thought I was really starting to make progress back at Beacon, like after we helped you guys fend off the Grimm and went to fight in the tournament? I felt on top of the world then."

Yang knew that feeling well. Up until their trip to Mountain Glenn, Yang had felt invincible. Even when she'd gone in search of Blake and rushed to attack her White Fang buddy, with enemies surrounding her and her friends in danger, Yang felt she could've forced her way through any obstacle. Her confidence had waned a bit after Mercury (and Emerald, she later learned) tricked her and left people believing the worst of her, but she hadn't truly lost her step until Adam drew his sword.

"Pyrrha was going through something difficult," Jaune continued. "I had no idea, and it really brought me down. It made me realize how much I was missing… how much I'd _already_ missed."

He definitely seemed a bit sharper now. He was a bit less impulsive and more thoughtful, and according to Pyrrha and Nora, he'd already been a capable strategist. Yang thought she'd noticed how much he'd grown, but there was so much more there than Yang first realized.

"And since we started this whole trip in Anima we found out a bunch of things…" Jaune continued. "Your uncle, has he told you about the brothers yet? Or Salem and all them? Or the guy we fought in Oniyuri? It's just all so much to take in… made me realize how big the world was."

Yang nodded. She'd had to adjust to feeling small and insignificant while spending months cooped up in Patch. Jaune may have been traveling the world, but he hadn't been in the safe confines of a kingdom, and even when surrounded by his friends he'd been beaten down and left feeling vulnerable.

Yang reached down into her pack and found the bottle Qrow had given to her. She hoisted it up and gave it a shake over their shared table, looking at Jaune expectantly. Jaune nodded, reaching over to uncork it.

Yang never would have expected it from him. She expected him to politely refuse, or inquire about where she got it, or something other than accept. But now that he'd gone through the trouble of opening the bottle, Yang was happy to go along with him.

She may have lost a step, but she still hadn't forgotten how to enjoy herself, and Yang had no intention of letting her friend drink alone.

* * *

Neither Yang nor Jaune were lightweights, and the drink was cheap and watered-down. It wasn't what prompted what happened next.

They were both feeling nostalgic for better times, and for better or worse, they had shared history together. They were both charged on adrenaline from their sparring match, and the memories of Jaune pinning Yang to the floor and gripping her hand a bit too long were still fresh in their minds.

Each was lonely without their partner, each was feeling vulnerable facing the weight of the world, and each was tired of loss and pain. Yang didn't stop to ask him. She figured he'd go along with her plan.

She bought herself a room, and under the pretense of returning upstairs to rejoin their friends and family, Yang stood in the frame of her door, just looking at him, her eyes turning very intense and pointed.

Jaune was slow to get the hint, but he wasn't as oblivious as he once was. "Yang… are you-"

"Don't talk anymore," Yang requested, reaching her right hand up to his cheek, before turning much less subtle. "That's not what I had in mind."

Jaune glanced down at the metal fingers brushing his face. Yang followed his eyes and moved to retract her hand, only for Jaune to take hold of it before she could get away. He glanced down at her Atlesian tech for a few seconds before turning his attention entirely on Yang's lilac eyes. For several moments they just stared, tightening the grip in their hands.

He moved in slowly… his face so close Yang could feel his breathing on her nose. He was clearly tempted. He just needed a little push.

Yang wasn't one for little pushes.

She moved in herself and initiated the kiss, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and pulling him inside.

* * *

Jaune glanced across the bed at the sleeping Yang, still holding her right hand. She'd been self-conscious of it all throughout, but eventually Jaune put her mind at ease with certain other actions.

Jaune idly reached to the nightstand for his Scroll. He expected he'd find a bunch of texts from Ruby or Nora –and maybe one from Ren-and he'd have to explain what just happened… and though Jaune wasn't sure they'd simply disapprove of his actions, he _was_ sure their opinions would be… _varied._

When he tapped the Scroll he saw Pyrrha say: "…Again!" He froze at the sight, looking at her standing before Beacon tower. For several seconds he just stared at her, feeling Yang pressed up against his back, faintly breathing on his neck.

Finally Pyrrha spoke again. "Okay, assuming you aren't _cheating_ -"

Jaune shut off his Scroll and glanced back at Yang. She was still asleep, still lying beside him, still content.

And he was still right there beside her, holding her hand.

* * *

 _Kuroyuri_

Raven glanced down at the ground, running her fingers at the impact site in the courtyard beside the single dead tree. The Aura had been here; it left a residue so bright that Raven could clearly see it, even without the aid of her tears through the fabric.

Her subordinates had finished scavenging the weapons and raw materials scattered about the abandoned town, and had settled in the buildings still furnished for the night. She'd have to join them soon to avoid suspicion, but for the moment her attention was on this incredibly potent Aura.

She'd followed it since Higabana, when her portal had been unexpectedly stabilized. What Raven had initially thought either her managing to keep her composure after her meeting with Qrow and not betray weakness had turned out to be the light that pushed the dark denizens back. When she returned it had only a small piece of Aura left for her to claim, but enough for her to track. This sample left here, in the battle scars of Kuroyuri, was fresh and vibrant, shining.

Raven saw the shadows retreating back into the dark, fleeing from this light. For a moment she felt much less pressure, the monsters who sought to whisper in her ear driven away, at least for the moment.

It was close. And soon Raven would claim that light, and finally dispel the curse she'd carried for so long. Finally she would bring light into the darkness between dimensions and the path would be made clear.

Raven drew her blade and slashed at the spot, severing the bonds that separated space and time so she could peer backwards to the moment. It would cost some of this beautiful bright Aura to see, but Raven wanted to see the face of its source.

Scraggly blonde hair. Beautiful blue eyes. Young, but weathered by battle, wearing heavy armor and wielding an old sword.

Reaching out to a man propped up against the tree, a wounded, disheveled, middle-aged…

Qrow?

How fortuitous that her dear brother had borne witness to the light. It'd be all the easier for Raven to claim it as her own if she had a spotter to put in some work for her. And to think she'd expected their meeting in Higabana to be the last they'd share for another few years…

Raven slashed again to seal the tear. For a long moment she stared at empty air, at the wisps of Aura that lingered in this place of cold and death.

She knew where he was now. And he was very close indeed.


	2. Dark Pathways

**Chapter Two: Dark Pathways**

* * *

 _The Roads of Anima, Shortly Before_

When Yang saw the road sign she brought her motorcycle to a halt before it to read the text. Mistral waited on her right, and on her left was some other town or village, the name scrawled over with the word 'BANDITS'. Yang wasn't sure why a group of outlaws would broadcast their location, but this lined up with what Qrow had told her about his former tribemates marking their territory.

Yang considered if this meant what it appeared to mean: that while chasing after Ruby to Mistral, she'd found her mother's location, or at least a pretty good place to search for her. What had seemed a very simple mission suddenly had a profound complication.

Yang had told her father she was going to find Ruby, and ensure her sister's safety and reunite with someone she knew loved her. She'd told him what he needed to hear, but Yang fully intended to honor her word, because she anticipated a longer chase to find Raven and her buddies. She hadn't anticipated them being just a few miles out of her way. She wasn't sure what would happen when she found her mother or even what she'd say –even after all this time she still wasn't sure where to begin- but Yang had been waiting for the chance and chased leads far slimmer than this.

If she wanted to, she could chase the answer right now. She didn't know for certain when she'd find Ruby again, and while Yang expected she'd have another opportunity to find Raven in time, fate had curiously decided to make her choose then and there.

Yang was tired of letting fate decide. "You are in so much trouble when I find you," Yang promised Raven, before turning right and heading up the mountain path to Mistral, leaving Raven for another day.

Raven may have been her mother, but Ruby was her _family_. Yang had failed to respond when Ruby needed her just once, and the memory of that –no matter the circumstances, no matter how Yang might have justified it to herself- was one she'd have to atone for, so that Ruby would remember that she could always count on her big sister. It was bad enough Yang had allowed her maiming to affect Ruby. She would not leave her sister in danger to chase after a selfish wish.

* * *

 _Tonight_

Raven had been to Mistral several times. If Qrow had been wounded in Kuroyuri, Mistral was the closest place he could've been moved to for medical attention. Given her brother's reputation, he was probably trying to remain as low-key as possible and had found himself a place to stay among the poor and downtrodden in the kingdom's very lowest rung, at the base of their mountain stronghold.

After assigning responsibilities to her captains, Raven made the trip, opting not to use her Semblance if it could be helped. Under cover of darkness and with her not inconsiderable agility, Raven moved through the woods and then scaled the kingdom walls, finding her way in to the poor districts in search of her quarry.

The local inns were all small and shabby, but catering to the underclass was usually aided by a well-stocked liquor cabinet. Raven figured whatever wound Qrow had suffered would be soothed by a liberal application of the cheap stuff, and she began her search at the mid-level establishments.

After finding nothing at the first two, Raven found herself becoming increasingly frustrated. She tried to rationalize that she was looking for someone trying not to be found and that she shouldn't be concerned about the setbacks, but her third failure to locate Qrow or his young ally angered her considerably. It angered her far more than it should have.

And she felt them, pounding on the walls, trying to scratch and claw their way out of their dimension and into hers'. She heard their whispers, carried on the mists from the kingdom's central waterfall, promising that at any moment they would break her feeble barrier.

Raven had managed to cow them just a few hours before, but she didn't have a second warning to offer. Her defenses were weakening, and they knew it, and they wasted no time in seeking to exploit it. She turned her attention to the hilt of her great sword, hoping that this gesture might intimidate a few of the dark denizens into withdrawing. Instead, it emboldened them further, as they begged her to cut a tear in the wind and pass into their home. Once they had her, they'd have all they needed.

She needed to use her Semblance. It was the only real advantage she and the tribe had over Salem, and the only reliable way of escape should the situation become dire enough. But to use her Semblance she had to travel into _their_ territory, and each time she passed through it became harder and harder to find her way back out of the dark pathways.

Raven had to obtain the light. If she didn't the tribe would lose its greatest asset –sooner or later she'd falter- and then they'd have far bigger problems than Salem. Each trip was getting more perilous, and more and more of the darkness found its way to the barriers between dimensions. Most clashed against the walls splitting them off from this remnant, but some simply waited in the black, watching and waiting for the right moment.

She had to have the light. Not just for the sake of her tribe and their survival, but to try and limit the number of enemies they'd have to face when the war began in earnest. With only a small tribe loyal to her rather than a unified force, Raven had to rely on her connection to the dark pathways to try and circumvent Salem. And without the relics, the only other way to drive the darkness away was a powerful source of Aura.

It hadn't saved Raven before when she'd needed it to. But that was before she knew how to do anything indirect, before she realized the necessity of finding an alternate route.

Raven saw a tear appear in the air behind her and unsheathed her blade long enough to seal it back up. Some of the denizens retreated, but a bold few remained to try and force another opening.

She didn't have the luxury of time and she couldn't afford to be choosy. It had to be this boy Qrow was traveling with. It had to be now.

The alternative was to leave again… and there was far more than a single life depending on her to take the necessary steps.

* * *

Nora was elated when she heard from Ruby that Yang had found her way to them. She could hardly wait to engage in hijinks with the sisters again; it'd be just like the good old days at Beacon! Nora had flitted about the inn searching for Yang so she could catch up with her old friend, but had no luck finding her in the dining area or in the room split between Ruby and Qrow. She knew where Ren was (as he'd been otherwise occupied when Yang arrived) but hadn't seen Jaune since he politely excused himself to give the partners some time to themselves. He was probably outside doing that secret training Nora and Ren pretended not to be aware of.

But Jaune wasn't around either. As Nora recalled, the plan was for them to hunker down at the inn and wait for Qrow to finish his recovery, even if it meant dipping deep into their coin purse for a few days buying expensive pre-prepared meals rather than stocking up on trail rations or staple foods. Jaune probably hadn't stepped out to get supplies, so where could he have gone?

Well, Yang was back, and may have found him first. She could've dragged him off somewhere… but there weren't any messages on her nor Ren's Scrolls indicating Jaune would be absent. He knew how Nora worried when he was out of her sight for any significant length of time.

She would _not_ lose him. Not after Beacon. Not after _Pyrrha_.

So Nora put her detective skills to good use, checking the exterior for footprints or signs of struggle. And there _had_ been a struggle; an intense battle that cut up the ground and upset layer after layer of dirt. She recognized shoe prints in Jaune's size and saw he had charged all over the place, no doubt putting up an intense fight. At one point he'd managed to floor his opponent and pin them to the ground!

But who would be after Jaune? More like that crazy Faunus who tried to kidnap Ruby? He _had_ mentioned being… _interested_ in Jaune…

Nora needed to get to the bottom of this, and quickly. She rushed back to her room to inform Ren and gather her weapons… only to crash right into Jaune as he emerged from one of the _other_ rooms, carrying his armor and Crocea Mors rather than adorned in either.

At first Nora was grateful to see him, but her focus quickly shifted to the stress he'd put her through by disappearing, if even only briefly. "Jaune, where have you been? I've been looking for you!" she snapped, pointing an accusatory index finger at his nose.

Normally Jaune would take such a revelation with good humor. Instead he raised his free hand, trying to pat at the air. "Keep it down, Nora."

That would not do. He'd worried her, and Nora would very much prefer he not do so. So to ingrain the lesson for him, she raised her voice a bit. "Why? Were you on some important secret mission? Why did you disappear without telling any of us?"

"It's… complicated," Jaune tried to explain, averting his gaze, Nora's finger brushing over his cheek.

Now Nora was becoming quite irritated. "Well, then _uncomplicate it_! Where did you go? What did you do? Why couldn't you just _send us a text_ before you disappeared? Do you have any idea what's been going on while you were… I don't even know where you were and what you were doing and that's really bugging me!"

"Nora-" Jaune began, only for her to abruptly silence him.

"I'll be done in a moment," Nora assured him. "I just wanted to remind you that whatever reason you had to head out, whatever you needed to do, you do _not_ get to be alone anymore, okay? I will _not_ lose you, Ren will not lose you, and Ruby will not lose you. And Qrow won't either, I guess. And Yang, now that she's here."

"Yeah, I get it, Nora," Jaune agreed, still not looking at her.

Nora sighed, calming herself down to speak a little less fervently. "I'm sorry, I just saw all the signs of a scuffle outside and I thought… I worried that…"

"It was Yang," Jaune explained, still looking elsewhere. "She seemed really keen on sparring with me."

"Oh, good, that was my next question," Nora beamed, quickly becoming her usual upbeat self. "Where is she?"

Nora's good mood didn't last when Jaune continued to avert his gaze. She eyed him curiously, waiting for a response, only to glance back at the doorframe he'd emerged from, and the room different than the one he'd been splitting with her and Ren…

Nora turned her attention inward, looking past him, to some unfamiliar clothing on the floor, to messy and distorted bedsheets, to a long mane of blonde hair and a bare back poking out from under the covers, a right arm resting atop them, gripping empty air. Nora's eyes darted back and forth between Jaune and the woman in bed, at her unresponsive blonde hair to his determined efforts to avoid looking her in the eye… "Oh."

* * *

Raven found her mark at last, but not in trying to track Qrow. Aura had been shed outside this shabby building, but rather than dissipate into the air and vanish from sight, it lingered. Just as it had in Kuroyuri, the light remained when it should've been extinguished. Once again it had seen battle and held strong, but even a small flicker of this light terrified the denizens of the dark pathways, more and more of their number drawing away and not trying to force the cracks to widen.

He was here. And Qrow was likely here as well.

She _could_ simply take the boy and be on her way. She didn't need to involve Qrow at all. But she suspected she'd need an inroad, and he might be helpful in convincing her target to accede to Raven's requests. Raven had not intended to meet with him again so soon, but she'd rather ask before she took. Their relationship was already on shaky ground, and she really would rather her brother see things her way.

Raven reached out with her senses, following the distortions where Qrow's own Semblance widened the tears. Just as she desperately had to push back against incursions, Qrow had no ability to stop weakening the fabric, because he constantly pulled on that same dimension in his every waking moment. Raven often wondered if it was why she'd been born: to mitigate the damage he caused by cutting through the dark.

She didn't want to talk to him, but she needed his cooperation now. As she made her way to his room, she detected the Aura, the light blinding her from its intensity as she tried to peer past her normal array of senses: there was so much more of it than she'd ever seen in a single place before. She actually had to avoid looking at it, it was so intense. It wasn't often _anything_ was so powerful as to make Raven blink.

Still, she knew where to go now, and with the Aura so close the denizens were wary to attack. She made only a small tear for herself, and a short path to walk through. She had barely to take a step in their territory before emerging beside his bed.

He looked so old now, with all the gray streaks lining his hair. She wondered just how long he had, how much longer it'd be until he finally succeeded in drowning himself…

"Get away from him!"

Raven turned her head to the sound of the voice. A red blur darted towards her, and she had to carefully step aside so as not to be struck by it. She instinctively drew her great sword, searching for her foe. In such close quarters, speed would be more hindrance than advantage.

But when Raven laid eyes on her opponent, she froze, captivated by dark hair with red accents, and eyes of shining silver in the dark…

"Summer?" she breathed. The girl seemed to respond to Raven's interjection, eyeing her suspiciously rather than pressing the attack. Raven took in the rest of her features, trying to convince herself that she wasn't mad, that there was some rational reason for the conclusion she drew.

She did look astonishingly like Summer, but there were subtle differences in her cheeks and forehead. They were stronger and wider… just as they'd been in Yang and not in Raven.

Tai's youngest. Summer's daughter.

"I'm not here to harm him, child," Raven told her, still keeping her great sword aloft in case this speedy girl decided to try anything cute. "I need to have words with my brother."

"Brother?" the silver-eyed girl repeated.

"Rouse him," Raven instructed. "I'm sure he'll be thrilled I've come to visit."

She had long since lost any reluctance in lying to children.

While the girl moved to Qrow's side, still eyeing Raven suspiciously, Raven took the time to remove her Grimm mask, flipping out her hair and moving wayward strands from her face. The silver-eyed girl seemed more unnerved seeing Raven's face exposed, her red eyes shining in the dimly lit bedroom.

When she managed to convince Qrow to stir, he looked up at his sister, and sat up quite abruptly, putting himself squarely between Raven and the girl who'd been tending to him. How sweet it was to see him as the protective uncle, rather than the drunken lout. "What do you want?" Qrow snarled at her.

Raven was tempted to rile him up, to play with him a bit, but she needed to convince him to work with her tonight. She needed to avoid conflict if at all possible. "I came because I need your help, brother," Raven explained. "I need to talk to you about the boy you've been traveling with; the one who saved your life in Kuroyuri."

Qrow's fierceness was replaced with surprise, and then genuine curiosity. "Why?"

Raven took a deep breath. "As leader of the tribe, it is my responsibility to protect my people. And it is for them I must make this sacrifice…"

* * *

Yang kept trying to take hold of Blake's hand. Blake had been holding onto her while she'd been unconscious, whispering to her ear as she lay beside her partner. When Yang awoke and Blake was nowhere to be found, she thought she'd yet to emerge from sleep and remained in some particularly vivid dream.

Then she'd tried to grip with her right hand, and looked down and seen only the bloodied bandages…

Yang woke with a start, clenching her right hand over her bedsheet. She sat up with a start, only to quickly reach down to that same bedsheet and hike it up when she realized it was the only garment she'd been wearing. She glanced around the room, memories flooding back to her.

Jaune Arc. Of all the people that might've been her first… she honestly thought _Blake_ would've had a better shot than him. But when he'd held her hand, when he'd refused to let go of it, when he'd pulled it back when Yang tried to take it away…

He wasn't holding that hand now. He wasn't lying in bed beside her. She was alone in a dark room, after… and he had disappeared.

Yang remembered how this felt, to think there'd be a hand holding her own when she woke, only to grasp empty air. Only to try and hold on with a hand that was no longer there.

Why had Jaune left?

Why had Blake? Why had her mother? Why did so many people have to leave her?

Maybe he was as surprised as Yang had been and not known how to react. Maybe he'd simply stepped out for a moment and she shouldn't be concerned; maybe he'd merely been courteous in trying not to wake her while he attended to something else. But Yang wouldn't mind being woken up; she had quite enjoyed his company. More than she expected to. In _ways_ she hadn't expected to.

She should calm down. She shouldn't assume the worst. She hadn't taken Jaune to bed simply because they'd shared a drink and both had been feeling lonely and vulnerable. She _liked_ Jaune. Maybe not like this… maybe not in this exact way, but enough to give him the benefit of a doubt. Enough to believe he wouldn't leave her without a good reason.

Once she had decided on that, Yang thought on what to do next. The others probably wondered where she'd gone. Or why Jaune disappeared at the same time Yang did. Maybe he'd gone to explain that… or defuse that, as the case may have been.

Yang would ask him once she found him. She was sure he had a good reason for the disappearing act.

If not, well, she had taken it easy on him during their sparring match. Her next love tap would be much less… loving.

Yang climbed out of bed and gathered her clothing, hoping that no one had filled in Ruby yet…

* * *

Nora was whispering to Ren behind him as Jaune made his way to Qrow and Ruby's room. He knew exactly what she was telling him and didn't really mind her sharing the details, but it didn't make him any less uncomfortable now that Ren was also in on his brief misadventure. He stared determinedly ahead, not wanting to look at either of his teammates right now. He didn't want them to see how guilty he'd felt or how much of that guilt came right out through his eyes.

He'd almost been relieved when he'd seen the text from Ruby on his Scroll. He'd clicked on it and moved right past Pyrrha's training video message to him so he didn't have to hear her voice or see her face. He didn't want to hear her encouraging him after what he'd done.

What he'd done…

He could blame the drink. He hadn't had much experience there, and this certainly wouldn't help him acclimate to it.

He could blame his depression and his loneliness. Maybe he could try and convince Yang that he was too damaged to make her happy, no matter how much he might've enjoyed what they shared. It would just be him trying to make himself feel better, to forget his hurt with her embrace… and that wasn't a thought that made him feel better. It made him feel like a jerk, like he'd used her somehow.

He should speak to her, let her know why he'd left… that he was weak and cowardly, that he wasn't the man he'd pretended to be, that he was still young and foolish. Hopefully listening to Qrow's world-weary snarking would reinforce that belief.

But when he stepped into Qrow and Ruby's room with Ren and Nora beside him, he was surprised to find an unfamiliar woman standing in the foreground, Qrow still seated upright in his bed, Ruby seated beside him on the bedspread.

She was tall and had thick hair like Yang's, only much darker and somehow even longer and wilder. Her eyes were a piercing bright red, and when she looked at Jaune they stood out in the dim light of the inn and the faint exterior lights of Mistral. She wore red and black armor and held a _huge_ sword in her right hand and held a Grimm mask –not unlike the ones used by the White Fang- in her left hand.

Jaune pointedly looked at Qrow for some explanation. When he cast his glance their way Ruby suddenly averted her eyes. That was odd enough, but Qrow drew his attention and kept Ruby from his thoughts by proceeding to the business at hand: "Jaune, this is Raven Branwen- she's requested a meeting with you. Raven, this is Jaune Arc."

"Me?" Jaune repeated, before glancing back at the armored woman with the piercing red eyes, waiting for some further explanation for this strange occurrence.

"Go on," Qrow suggested.

Raven found herself overwhelmed being in his presence, the light of his Aura slipping through so much she had to actively muzzle her senses, trying not to be too distracted. But now she had to recite an oath older than her, from the tribe's inception, when warring families united under a single banner. She'd never expected to say the words. She'd never wished to.

"Jaune Arc," Raven began, forcing herself to look at him, even though she squinted her eyes a bit to manage it. "I am Raven Branwen, and I come before you seeking to seal an ancient pact of alliance and forge a bond to unite my tribe with yours'."

"Alliance?" Jaune repeated.

Raven continued with the script despite his interjection. She kept her eyes on the prize. "Whatever strength we hold does not match the strength we can share. Those we have sworn to protect are safer in two hands than one, and I offer my hand to you now, to unite our clans under a banner of shared leadership."

She needed him. She hated to admit that, but she had to acknowledge that simple fact.

The boy –bright as his Aura was- wasn't quite so overpowering as to be able to conceal his confusion from her. He looked expectantly to Qrow and his niece, the poor silver-eyed girl still looking at the floor, a faint tinge of pink in her cheeks. His friends standing behind him seemed a little further along; the boy in green had an expression of dawning comprehension, the girl in pink looking shocked and trying to open her mouth to speak.

"You might want to dumb it down," Qrow suggested. "And avoid all the fancy talk; he's a little slow."

Just what Raven wanted to hear. She knew this would be a trying, difficult task…

For her people. She had to save them.

Raven dug her sword into the wooden inn floor so her right hand would be free. She hesitated for a moment before she dropped to a knee and bowed her head, raising her right hand and reaching up towards the still-confused boy.

She hated to prostrate herself. She did not wish to beg.

For her people. For survival.

"Jaune Arc," Raven began again, still staring at the floor. Jaune listened intently, as his friends turned their heads back to the hall outside, to another joining this impromptu meeting. Raven hesitated, because she didn't know how he'd respond. She hoped he'd understand her gestures when she spoke bluntly.

"I ask for you join my tribe in alliance, and seal the pact… through marriage."

* * *

Yang had seen Ren and Nora flanking Jaune on the way to Qrow and Ruby's room. It seemed something important was going on. Something drew them all together. Yang felt inclined to be forgiving of Jaune for his departure, because it seemed like he'd been called away.

As she drew nearer, Yang saw another figure drop to kneel, and she was so curious as to what she'd borne witness to Yang stepped in to join them.

She'd seen that red armor before. She'd seen that great sword imbedded in the floor on the train at Mountain Glenn; it saved her life.

And the woman dropping to kneel… the woman she'd been searching for.

She addressed Jaune by name. She extended her hand up to him. She bowed her head when speaking her wish.

To marry him.

The mother Yang had been searching for had just proposed to the man Yang had given her virginity to, whom she'd made love to merely hours beforehand.

And she was there to witness the proposal.


	3. The Empty Black

**A/N:** I'd like to thank Aetheling for his help in this chapter's flashback sequence. You should give his work a look, if you're so inclined: he's quite the Arkos expert and quite apt at portraying the Arc family and their many quirks.

 **Chapter Three: The Empty Black**

* * *

 _The Past_

Birthday celebrations weren't always ideal for Jaune. His elder sisters doted on him, but they were also quite detached from his interests. Other than patiently indulging him in conversation and buying him gifts, they didn't contribute much else to the party. His younger sisters were still carefree enough to join in games with him, but also smaller and less able-bodied than himself, and they couldn't keep pace with his energy and enthusiasm. Only his father could match his strength, though with seven other children to manage, he could only ration so much time for his son, even on his birthday.

He was helping Jaune to assemble a toy when his mother called him away to tend to something. Jaune was left alone for several minutes, trying to make sense of the instructions on his own. In his peripheral vision Jaune occasionally saw his father trying to get away from his mother's grip and rejoin Jaune, but again and again she assigned him some other task. Jaune eventually left his task unfinished and tried to convince his younger sisters to play with him again, even if it meant waiting longer for something he'd been eagerly anticipating having. At eleven years old, even a few hours of waiting was an eternity when the present had been unwrapped and lay half-assembled on the floor.

When his father did finally manage to rejoin him, Jaune asked a question he'd been holding in: "Why's mom bossing you around so much?"

His father laughed. "That's what she's good at."

"Yeah, but you don't have to let her," Jaune pointed out.

"Oh, but letting her's the best part," his father argued. "She's so much happier if I fight her a little bit and then let her have her way. That's how she knows she accomplished something."

"That's weird, dad," Jaune remarked in his eleven year old eloquence.

His dad laughed again, before gently explaining the facts to his poor, ignorant son. "Someday, son, you'll understand. You'll have to find a wife of your own so you aren't lonely."

"When would I ever be lonely?" Jaune asked. "I have seven sisters. If anything, I never have any time _alone_ _ **.**_ "

"Son, eventually your sisters will grow up just like everyone else," his father solemnly continued. "It breaks my heart to think it, but it's not too far off that they'll be getting married and having children of their own. At least that's what I hope they'll find when they're out of the house."

"You hope they'll break your heart?" Jaune asked, trying to make sense of his dad's wistful remarks.

"I hope they'll be happy," his dad clarified. "I hope they have someone to share their life with. I hope they find good men to boss around, and I hope you find a good woman when you're old enough, so you won't be lonely. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no rush; my girls would stay here until their thirties if I had my way. But I wouldn't ever want them to be lonely."

"Wait, why do I need to find someone to be happy? I don't get it," Jaune told him.

"Not yet," his dad allowed. "Just know that there's nothing worse in this world than being alone. And there's no greater joy than finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with…" He ruffled his son's messy blonde hair. "…well, at least until your kids come along."

Jaune reached up to try and push his father's large hand off his head. "I don't think I need to get married to be happy."

"Well, you've always been a slow learner," his dad joked. "Come on, let's see if we can finish putting this thing together."

* * *

 _Tonight_

Jaune had always envisioned he'd be the one making the proposal, after a long time spent dating someone exclusively. He hadn't ever pictured the moment clearly, but he had a general idea of how it'd play out, with him taking his hypothetical beloved somewhere nice, maybe a fancy dinner. He certainly hadn't expected to be asked by a woman clearly older than himself (he did his best not to speculate on exactly how much older) he'd met merely seconds before she asked.

His eloquent response to Raven's offer was a very understated: "Um…"

Raven raised her head to look up at him. "Is there something you need? A dowry? A trip to visit my forces and see our might firsthand? Tell me what you require of me and I will grant it if it's within my power to do so."

"Wait, hang on," Jaune requested. " _Why_ do you want to marry _me_? We _just_ met. I've heard of love at first sight, but this is-" He noticed Yang's arrival out of the corner of his eye and abruptly put a stop to whatever half-formed bad joke he'd been in the process of making. "Uh… I mean, can you just start from the beginning?"

Raven narrowed her eyes as she lifted up from her bent knee. "I've been looking for you, Jaune Arc, since I found your path in Higabana. The amount of Aura you left behind made it possible for me to track your movements and find you here."

Pyrrha had mentioned to Jaune he had an unusually large amount of Aura, when she'd embraced him in the Emerald Forest and bound her soul with his. She hadn't known him much longer than this Raven had when she'd been willing to take such an important, _intimate_ step… that thought only troubled him further. Feeling Yang's eyes behind him only made things that much worse.

"Okay, so you followed me, fair enough," Jaune nodded. "Why do you want to marry me?"

"I _don't_ ," Raven bluntly replied. "But I have to. You have something I need –something my people need- and I really do need you to cooperate with me. Otherwise I'd have just taken you by force."

"Romantic, isn't she?" Qrow remarked from his bed. "Just like-" He spotted Yang in the doorframe behind Ren and Nora and very abruptly bit his tongue. Fortunately, his falling silent coincided with Raven turning to glare at him, and he allowed her to think she was the one who'd silenced him.

"Why?" Jaune asked again. "What is it you think I have?"

"It's what I _know_ you have, Jaune Arc," Raven assured him, meeting his eye again, though she continued to squint. " _Your Aura_. It is the key to saving my tribe."

Jaune wasn't sure what Raven was saying. "Um… could you maybe explain how that's supposed to make sense?"

Raven glanced back at Qrow, who remarked: "I told you he was a little slow." Jaune was gratified to see Ruby elbow her uncle very hard in his side.

Raven turned her attention to her sword, hoisting it up by its hilt. Jaune, Ren, and Nora all instinctively reached for their weapons when they saw her slash with it, only to relax their grip when they saw her cut at empty air… and then immediately jump back on their guard when they saw a swirling portal of red energy and empty blackness manifest -seemingly from nowhere- directly behind the armored woman.

"Your Aura makes you special, Jaune Arc," Raven told him. " _This_ is what makes me special: from the moment I discovered my Semblance, I have traveled through this darkness."

Ruby popped up from Qrow's side to examine the strange portal. She may well have been concerned like the rest of her friends, but she seemed quite interested in this strange hole just the same, extending her index finger as though to poke at it. Raven eyed her warily, though she seemed patient in indulging Ruby's curiosity.

"And this darkness is everywhere," Raven explained. "It intertwines and weaves all through this remnant, but most people can't see it or interact with it. This portal I've created is a tear in reality itself, a little gap between this world and another."

Jaune stepped closer to it, driven by curiosity much like Ruby was. As he stood beside Raven he quietly took note of how tall she was; almost exactly the same height as Qrow. Her hair was really long and thick like Yang's… Jaune tried desperately not to make that comparison and focused his attention on the crazy portal and did everything he could not to think about the physical similarities between the woman who'd proposed to him and the girl he'd just taken to bed.

"Do you see them, Jaune Arc? Staring through the empty black?" Raven asked.

All Jaune could see was darkness past the red energy encircling the portal. He didn't see any movement, he didn't see any shapes. He just saw black. Jaune turned to look at her and shook his head.

"There are things in that darkness that would very much like to find their way out of it," Raven explained, still squinting when she looked at him. "Which is why I need you. Once, I was able to keep them at bay and move through the pathways. Now… now there are too many. Now I can't use my Semblance without alerting them to my location. And whenever I weaken the boundary between the two dimensions, they pounce, trying to force their way in after me."

"How will my Aura help?" Jaune asked, turning away from Raven to look at the portal again.

"The creatures in the dark pathways may want to find their way into this world, but there are still things in it they fear," Raven answered. "There's something in your Aura that repels them."

"Something," Jaune repeated. "You don't know what it is?"

"Not… precisely," Raven admitted. "You have an unusually large amount of it, but something about your Aura –something about the strength of its light- is what they're _really_ afraid of."

"Okay," Jaune took a moment to compose his thought. "So spell it out for me. What happens if these things get loose?"

Raven had heard them whisper every time she walked through their territory. She'd seen the weak ones draw close, and seen the strong ones wait in the dark to pick their moment. She looked Jaune over: his armor was showroom new, but it already had a few prominent battle scars on it, with fresh scratches contrasting pristine white plate. "You were studying to be a huntsman," Raven observed. "Did you get far enough to fight Grimm before Beacon fell?"

That was a bit of a sensitive subject. Jaune tried not to let Raven's implication bother him. "Yes," he answered simply.

"These creatures are _not_ Grimm," Raven told him. "They have minds of their own; they have _voices_ of their own. And they all say the same thing: that they want to be let out, so they can spread their darkness further."

"You sure that's what they want?" Jaune asked, before joking: "Maybe they're just misunderstood."

Raven had been squinting every time she looked at him. But when she narrowed her eyes into the glare she gave him now, Jaune could swear the room got colder. "I have heard them say the same thing -over and over again- _all of my life_. _Yes_ , I am sure."

Jaune backed off. "Okay. Bad idea to let these things out; got it. So how exactly am I going to help you?"

Jaune nearly jumped back when Raven waved her sword again, the portal she'd created slowly collapsing in on itself and eventually disappearing entirely, as though it'd never been there. Ruby continued to poke the empty air where it had been, before casting a quizzical look at Jaune and moving back to her uncle's side.

"Come," Raven instructed, sheathing her blade and then taking hold of Jaune's arm, pulling him along. "I'll explain the particulars to you: after I've shown my future husband hospitality so he knows the sincerity of my intent."

"Hospitality?" Jaune repeated as Raven dragged him along behind her.

"Do not get ahead of yourself," Raven instructed. "I was going to suggest we share a meal first."

"Um-" Jaune began before Raven continued on her way out with him in tow. When she passed by Nora, Ren, and Yang she stared determinedly ahead, offering them neither a word nor even a second look.

Jaune's eyes met Yang's as he was dragged along behind Raven. She seemed quite irritated, even angry… but oddly, it wasn't _Jaune_ she was glaring at. Her vitriol was directed towards the woman who'd proposed to him, but…

Jaune had seven sisters. He knew what jealousy looked like. Yang wasn't glaring at Raven because she was some romantic rival for Jaune. Her hate had a very different flavor to it.

Nora turned her attention to Ren and jerked her head after them. Ren nodded and moved to follow, keeping the two in his sights. No doubt Nora wanted someone to keep an eye on Jaune and the crazy lady who could whisk him away to just about anywhere in an instant, so she sent their resident ninja in to watch their leader's back.

Nora's eyes moved from Ren to Yang, and she coughed very awkwardly as Yang continued to glare after Raven. Ruby immediately turned her attention to Qrow, getting up in his face and pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Were you ever planning on introducing your sister to the rest of us?"

Qrow looked past Ruby to see Yang in the doorway, still seething after Raven. Apparently he wasn't the only one who'd kept a secret. "I wasn't planning on seeing her anytime soon," Qrow admitted, choosing his words carefully. "And she doesn't play well with others."

"Yeah, I noticed," Ruby dryly observed, before walking over to Nora and Yang, both of whom had their attention pointed after Raven. She attempted to defuse their obvious tension and discomfort with humor. "Wow, so Jaune's getting married, huh, guys? Think he'll..." She really didn't have a good joke in mind. "…invite us to the wedding?"

Nora coughed and scooted away, clearing a path for Ruby to Yang. Yang clenched her right hand, the cold metal of her fingers grinding against each other. Ruby didn't seem to notice as she sidled up beside Yang. "Sheesh, what's with her?"

Yang wasn't sure if Nora knew, but between her boundless energy and Ren's quiet observation –and how impulsive Yang and Jaune had been-it wouldn't be too surprising if their friends knew why Yang had vanished for a bit. Yang was certainly grateful Nora managed to refrain from mentioning it, if she knew.

But her thoughts were all for Raven now. Her mother, the woman who abandoned her when she was a baby, then saved her life at Mountain Glenn, then showed up out of nowhere to propose to Jaune… walked right by her without any acknowledgment. Clearly she had plans for Jaune, but Yang apparently hadn't warranted a moment of her time. Raven _must_ have recognized her if she was able to find Yang on a moving train seventeen years after she last saw her.

And Jaune, Yang understood him not asking her about feelings or where they were in whatever their relationship was given the circumstances… in the back of her mind. The rest of her thoughts were mostly irrational jealousy at her mother absconding with him; that Jaune had another woman's attention and that her mother was more interested in whatever Jaune's deal was than reconnecting with her daughter.

Why should she care? What was Jaune to her but… what? A friend? A friend with benefits? Why should it matter if he caught another woman's eye? It wasn't all that long ago she was encouraging Jaune to chase after Weiss.

Ruby placed a hand to Yang's back. "Yeesh, what happens if Jaune gets married to Uncle Qrow's weird sister? Think we'll ever see him again or will he live in one of these villages in Anima or something?"

Ruby was still playing around. There was no way she'd let that woman take Jaune; they were tight from their very first day at Beacon. At one point, Yang had entertained the thought they might eventually become an item. Now that thought only made her even angrier.

It wasn't Ruby's fault- she was trying to raise spirits. Yang _really_ didn't want to tell Ruby about her and Jaune just yet. It was going to be an uncomfortable conversation even before Raven showed up. Now she had the possibility of _two_ uncomfortable conversations with her baby sister. Or more. She wasn't sure how many times she'd have to explain the truth about Raven. Or about Jaune. Or if she'd have to clarify any points in between her own potential for explosive, frustrated ranting.

Ruby had some sort of revelation at Yang's shoulder. "Oh, but what if he sticks around? Would we have to call him 'Uncle Jaune'?"

 _Uncle_ Jaune…? Yang wouldn't call him that. If he was married to her mother… she'd call him…

Yang felt her temper flare. Her eyes burnt over red. It was the first time she'd truly become angry since she'd left from Patch.

"She's _not_ marrying him," Yang assured Ruby through gritted teeth.

"Well, yeah, I was only joking," Ruby pointed out.

Sitting upright in bed behind them, Qrow tented his fingers. He recognized that his traveling companions were attached to the blonde kid, but there was a bigger game being played here, both with Raven's extradimensional enemy and the role Raven herself could play.

Qrow had never seen the monsters Raven spoke of, but he'd just seen Raven beg a man she didn't know for his help on bended knee. Clearly _she_ believed the threat was real if she was willing to admit weakness.

Qrow had no stake in the boy's life. But he did have a stake in Raven's, and he knew what an asset she could be in the fight with Salem, both with what she and her tribe could contribute…

…and more importantly, who she could _lead_ them to.

* * *

The inn had a meager selection of food, but they were able to prepare two plates for Raven and Jaune. Ren watched them from afar with only a cup of tea to occupy himself, leaving them to their meal. Raven initially kept an eye on her prospective husband's teammate, but eventually gave all her attention to the blonde, even if she had to squint to look at him. "Should we discuss the particulars?" she asked him, direct and businesslike.

"Um," Jaune eloquently replied, before composing himself. "Yeah, probably. You said there'd be some sort of alliance…?"

"It's a tradition that dates back to the tribe's inception," Raven answered. "When the leader marries, she places the spouse's family under her protection. She then either names them to her tribe as members of her clan, or enters a formal military alliance, if the tribe is big enough."

Jaune's mind raced. If Raven was referring to his immediate family, seven sisters and two parents may not be a big enough group to join Raven's band of… actually, she hadn't been entirely clear on that. So Jaune tried to probe for information. "And how big is your tribe?"

"Big enough," Raven flatly replied. "I have no intention of adding anyone else to it. There are enough mouths to feed, and I don't need any weakness tainting us further."

"Unless you count me," Jaune deadpanned.

"Make no mistake," Raven continued, still picking at her plate. "You will not enjoy your stay with me. You'll be ridiculed constantly, by those far more powerful than you, who see you as unworthy. Your very presence will undermine me, because it'll remind my people that I needed an outsider's help. I wouldn't be surprised if someone tries to assassinate you on your first night in camp."

"You're really selling me on the experience," Jaune dryly remarked.

"I want to be honest," Raven explained. "Do you think I enjoy begging a favor from a stranger? I wanted you to know my efforts were sincere."

"I believe you," Jaune assured her. "Really- I've heard weirder things than that lately. I'm just-"

 _I met someone. I'm not the right guy. Things are complicated._

What was Yang to make of all this? What would she think if Jaune accepted her offer? What about Ren and Nora? What would they do without him?

Jaune tried to focus on Raven's request, at least hearing her out. Once he knew if it was worth the trouble. "What do I get to ask in return?"

Raven threw up her hands with a whimsical smile. "Not satisfied with the pleasure of my company?"

"Tell me about the alliance," Jaune suggested. "How would you and your tribe help? Would you fight against Salem? Would you help Ruby on her mission? Or defend Mistral? Or… I don't know, do something _good_?"

Raven turned serious again. "I'll honor a request from my husband. If you want my tribe to fight against Salem, we will call to arms when she finally shows herself. If you want us to help your friend in her mission, we will fight alongside her until she dismisses us. All you need to do is speak your wish, and it'll be the price I pay to forge our pact."

Jaune nodded as he fell into deep thought once again. He wasn't sold on the thought of Raven's buddies trying to murder him, but if Raven was as powerful as Qrow then she could be a huge asset in whatever fight lay ahead of them.

Jaune thought back to the portal. "And the creatures in the pathways, how will my Aura stop them? What –exactly- are you going to have me do?"

Raven was contemplative for a moment before extending her hand across their shared table. She waited for Jaune with an outstretched palm, and eventually Jaune reached over to her. She took hold of his wrist, and closed her eyes, concentrating.

Jaune felt a warm sensation running over his body. He remembered this feeling, as his Aura manifested itself around his body, just as it had when Pyrrha awoke it within him in the Emerald Forest.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality," Raven spoke, in barely more than a mumble. "Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all…"

Jaune knew the words. He remembered the moment clearly. Raven may not have spoken the words with the vigor and sincerity Pyrrha had, but the pledge was the same. The feeling running through him was the same.

She was binding him to her. She was infusing his Aura with her own.

She was _claiming_ him.

Jaune pulled back from her grip. Raven, still in mid-proclamation, glanced up at him, startled, before narrowing her gaze. "Something wrong?"

"I didn't agree to marry you," Jaune reminded her. That pledge wasn't hers' to make. Jaune never wanted to hear anyone else say those words to him, ever again. That bond wasn't for anyone else to have.

"That isn't what I needed your Aura for," Raven flatly replied.

"Then what? Tell me what you need. _Show_ me what you need," Jaune insisted.

Raven shrugged. "Fair enough."

She drew her sword with her left hand. Ren set his tea aside and drew Storm Flower. Raven slashed the empty air, creating a new portal beside their table on Jaune's right. Jaune barely had time to react before Raven reached over with her right hand and took hold of him again… and threw him right into the empty black.

Ren moved to strike, but Raven responded quickly, raising her blade to clash against his attack, easily holding back both of his bladed firearms with only the sword in her left hand.

"I'm the only one who can bring him back," Raven told Ren, still looking in the direction of the portal. "It'd be a shame if this was your friend's last meal."

"And why should I let you go?" Ren demanded. "What assurances do I have you'll bring him back?"

Raven smiled, still looking at the portal. "I told you; I need him to cooperate." She finally turned her attention to Ren, becoming serious once again, her expression turning stern. "Decide. Will you allow me to go after him, or should I leave him to fall further into the gap?"

Ren glared at her, but reluctantly drew back his weapons, and stepped aside. Raven reached down and scooped up a bit more of the meager ration on her plate before reaching over to her mask, standing up and facing the swirling mass of red energy and darkness.

She counted silently as she pulled on her mask. She had to go in after him, and _quickly_ , or she might miss her window. But she had tasted the flavor of his Aura now, and he'd shine brightly in the dark. Raven would find him, and hopefully the deepest shadows would retreat in the face of his light.

Raven really hoped he was strong enough to endure them. Or all of this would be for naught. And this remnant would be a smaller fragment than it was already.

Raven readied her sword and stepped in after him, tracking her quarry into the enemy's den, sealing the crack behind her and disappearing in the dark.


	4. Whistle in the Wind

**Chapter Four: Whistle in the Wind**

* * *

Jaune's first instinct was to take hold of his throat, to try and hold in his last gasp of air before Raven threw him into the portal. When he found himself in the blackness, he seemed to float through it, moving up and down as though he were floating on the surface of deep water. He tried to find his footing, but there didn't appear to be ground for him to stand on. There were slight discolorations in the dark, places where there seemed to be dim light rather than empty blackness, and Jaune attempted to move towards them, towards something with substance and matter, but every time he drew nearer that dim light only seemed further away.

Eventually Jaune had to catch his breath, and after several brief and painful gasps found himself able to breathe… though he couldn't tell where the oxygen he took in came from. He decided not to question it further, relieved he was able to breathe, even if he hadn't yet figured out how to stand. Jaune kept trying to pull himself forward, dragging himself through the blackness as though paddling through thick, swampy water, unable to orient himself to a standing or walking position.

The process was very draining, and he never seemed to draw any closer to the dim lights. Jaune changed tactics and tried rotating himself downwards, as though he meant to stand upright on his palms, and somewhere in the process of his movement he found himself tumbling backwards and landing hard on his back.

At least he'd landed on something solid, and when he righted himself, he found himself standing on some sort of surface in the darkness, albeit one he couldn't actually see. Jaune glanced around behind him –for want of a better term- and saw only more of the same blackness, dotted with a few patches of light, now oriented above or below him.

Jaune tapped his right foot a few times against the dark 'floor' he stood upon, and while it felt solid beneath him it made no sound when his shoe impacted against it. Jaune tried walking ahead, and found more solid 'ground' to stand upon, but he wasn't sure how long that would last or whether it'd lead him anywhere. His footsteps made no discernible sound but the impact of his foot on fabric and the faint ruffling of his legs moving in his jeans. With nothing he could see and nowhere he could walk to, Jaune stopped moving, looking periodically in each direction and listening intently around him.

There were sounds in the dark: gusts of wind that didn't match his own breathing. Jaune wasn't sure he saw any movement, as the light was so dim he wasn't sure if shadows were actually moving about or the darkness around him was moving to obscure the light source, as though pushing it further and further from him. Jaune focused on the gusts, listening to them. If there was a source of wind, it might give him a direction to proceed in, and maybe even a way out of this darkness.

But as Jaune paid closer and closer attention to the gusts passing by, what he heard didn't sound like simple air pressure, nor even the high-pitched whistle in the wind he'd heard from time to time at Beacon or riding the airships to Mistral. Instead it sounded… multifaceted. The gusts sounded almost like…

Whispers.

" _Smother it."_

" _Wandering light."_

" _Wash it away."_

" _Too bright his eyes."_

As Jaune really listened, he heard more and more, each speaking at a different pitch, talking over one another as their statements sailed past him.

" _Wandering light."_

" _Let him pass."_

" _Find the others."_

" _Wash it away."_

" _Need more."_

" _Wait for him to go."_

" _Wandering light."_

Jaune listened, standing still for several seconds. He closed his eyes to try and focus only on the sounds, and he heard them speaking more and more, muttering to one another… and possibly even trying to speak directly to him.

" _Smother it."_

" _Find the others, we need more."_

" _Wandering light."_

Jaune cleared his throat and spoke straight ahead –though he couldn't really tell where the whispers were coming from- and greeted the empty blackness. "Hello."

The whispers abruptly stopped, just as Jaune had resumed listening intently. He struggled to hear them talk, to make sense of the words flung his way. He couldn't hear them breathing, he couldn't hear anything moving. For a long time he just listened to empty air, until:

" _Wandering light."_

Jaune tried to follow the source of the deep voice that continued to draw his attention, but eventually fixed his gaze directly ahead, figuring that if he was actually going to _interact_ with… with whatever these things in the dark were, he should try and project confidence rather than confusion. "Who are you?"

" _You speak to us, wandering light. You seek a pact with us?"_

A pact? Jaune already had one too many of those, but he figured he should try humoring this thing speaking to him, and gain as much information as he could. "What is this place?"

For several seconds the deep voice was quiet. Surely it must've known… _"A stain. A bloody patch between two pieces of flesh."_

"What does that mean?" Jaune asked.

" _Your have Aura, wandering light. You come from the remnant apart and not the fragment apace,"_ the deep voice observed. _"We exist between, in the blood linking the two severed limbs."_

"And what are you?" Jaune inquired. "How did you get here?"

" _Abandoned. Betrayed. Forgotten. Each of us came to be and each found its place. But enough of us, wandering light. Have you come to make a pact?"_

"What kind of pact?" Jaune asked, still not keen on the idea but curious.

" _Whatever you wish,"_ the deep voice replied. _"To sit a throne over a river of blood, to break a world against your knee, to turn back and begin again."_

Jaune didn't like the sound of the first two, but the third… "Begin again?"

" _In the remnant apart, time flows forward. In the fragment apace, space turns back."_

"So I could… go back in time?" Jaune asked, trying to suppress his skepticism.

Again the deep voice was silent for a long stretch. _"You are lost, wandering light. Now we know why you are here… to begin again, and right what has been made wrong._

" _We can take you back, wandering light… we can carry you on our backs and guide you through the currents in the fragment apace, and return to the remnant apart. We can take you to the moment that left you lost."_

It was Jaune's turn to fall quiet. This couldn't be possible, this couldn't be real. He couldn't even _see_ this creature, yet it said it could take him back in time?

Could take him back to before Beacon fell?

Could let him see Pyrrha again?

" _Tell us, wandering light: what do you want most? What would you give to have it? Would you let the darkness in if you could only begin again?"_

Jaune didn't want to admit it, but he was entertaining the idea. He was actually picturing it, trying to piece it all together and understand what he'd be giving away.

This thing offering this to him had to be one of the creatures Raven feared, the ones she said would try to cover Remnant in their darkness if they ever escaped this place. There was no reason to assume they had such power to offer, or that they'd use it to help Jaune even if they did.

But if it _was_ true, if by some strange series of events it was possible to go back and save Beacon from the fall, and stop Cinder and… and save Pyrrha…

He wanted to believe. "Tell me more."

* * *

Nora was decidedly _not_ happy. It was incredibly rare that she became upset with Ren, but upon his return from the ground level to report on Raven's absconding with Jaune, she showed him venom the others had never seen. Yang and Ruby could only recall a single instance where Nora had been displeased with him, and that was over a missed breakfast. It seemed she valued Jaune at least _slightly_ more than pancakes, hard as it was to believe.

Qrow -though still sitting in bed- was a bit more ambulatory and expressive, trying to wave Nora off. "He did the right thing, kid. Raven was being patient with him as it was by not skewering him when he drew his guns."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Nora snapped. "She came here to take Jaune away and she _succeeded_. We could've-"

"Done what?" Qrow quickly interjected. "You don't know her like I do. If you got in her way, she'd have cut you in two."

Nora took a moment to calm herself. She would've argued they could've fought her off, but after Team RNJR's decidedly losing battle against Tyrian, she had reason not to assume they could've fended her off. "And what about Jaune? What reason does Raven have to bring him back when she already has what she wants?"

"Raven needs Jaune to agree to accept her proposal," Qrow explained. "If he doesn't, he's no good to her."

"Um, not that I don't have faith in Jaune, but…" Ruby began, "… _why_? Why can't she just force him?"

Qrow looked past Ruby at his bedside to Yang, still looking sullen in the doorframe. He knew the _real_ reason… but he didn't want to say it in front of her. Not when Yang hadn't told Ruby about their connection yet.

His gaze went a bit too long, and Ruby followed her uncle's line of sight to Yang. It wasn't like Uncle Qrow to ever bite his tongue… and why would he ever hold anything back in front of Yang?

"You can't just give Aura away," Qrow explained. "You have to link it with someone else. You need to let them in, meld your souls together. Maybe, _maybe_ Raven could snatch it from him a little at a time, but my guess is she needs a lot… way more than she'll ever get if she tries to take it piecemeal."

Ruby heard her uncle talking, but she was no longer listening. Her attention was on Yang, still standing in the doorframe, quiet and brooding. It reminded Ruby of how Yang had been after Beacon, while she was recovering from her maiming and had become distant and withdrawn. She thought –she _hoped_ \- Yang had overcome that and returned to herself when they met up again in Mistral yet now… it was odd Yang hadn't offered an opinion on any of this. Ruby figured she'd barely get a word in edgewise while Yang formulated a plan to rescue Jaune and beat up the woman who'd apparently kidnapped him.

Ruby's sister senses were telling her something wasn't simply amiss, but very, _very_ wrong here.

"You mean like Pyrrha did?" Nora asked. "She was the one to unlock his Aura."

"Makes sense," Qrow nodded. "An act like that binds the souls together, and makes it possible to move Aura between the two. If Jaune agrees to that, he can send all that extra juice he's got Raven's way."

Qrow's phrasing seemed to really irritate Yang, as Ruby saw her robotic hand clench its fist once again. Why? Why did this bother Yang so much yet somehow _not_ lead to her planning a hunt for the kidnapper? Yang was usually very emotional, but now she seemed to be containing a lot of anger without a clear source for the feeling.

"Are you sure she'll bring him back?" Ren finally asked.

"No," Qrow admitted. "But she needs him to work with her. So if your boy Jaune wants to see you again before he goes off to get hitched, he'll convince her to bring him back."

Yang was gritting her teeth, glaring outside the room and out into the hall. Something was definitely troubling her. Something big.

Ruby stood up from Qrow's bedside and stepped over to Ren and Nora. "Guys, can you keep an eye on Qrow for me for a bit? Wanna talk to Yang about something."

Nora seemed surprisingly eager to accept her request. Ren seemed content there'd be a witness around while Nora remained displeased with him.

When Ruby stepped over to her big sister she took hold of Yang's hand, very deliberately taking the Atlesian tech and pulling her forward. Yang seemed caught off guard, largely dead weight in Ruby's hands as she was led along. "Rubes?"

Ruby continued to lead her forward, waiting until they were a good distance from Qrow's room before turning around to face Yang and simply directing her: "Spill."

Yang considered playing dumb, but only briefly. Ruby had a look in her silver eyes that suggested she wasn't interested in being patronized while her best friend was off in some stranger's clutches. She was seeking answers, and knew Yang was in on some of the secrets being kept from her. And Yang _had_ kept secrets: one for her sister's sake, and for the sake of the memory of her –of _their_ \- mother, Summer Rose.

But the _other_ secret… it hadn't even been half a day, and Nora and Ren already knew. Yang really would've preferred she had a chance to speak to Jaune again before this, to get his input and know where he stood, where he thought things were going… or _had_ been going before Raven decided to interject herself.

Her silence was already telling Ruby a great deal. And the longer Yang hesitated, the more her baby sister might realize how much this secret had affected her, or worse, Ruby might think back to Yang at her lowest, when she'd been unable to respond to even the most sincere gesture of love and affection, and Yang never wanted to let Ruby see such doubt again.

Yang took a deep breath and then said very quickly and very quietly: "Jaune and I hooked up."

Ruby didn't seem to grasp her meaning at first. "Hooked what? Why would Jaune-" Eventually it dawned on her; even Ruby wasn't quite so innocent as to misunderstand Yang's lingo. "Oh."

"It was just a few hours ago," Yang explained, finding herself mumbling, embarrassed to acknowledge it; not because she was ashamed, but only because of how quickly it had occurred, and right under her sister's nose. "We sparred together and caught up, and I saw him feeling down and invited him to have a drink and…"

What should she say next? No doubt Ruby would be hungry for details… but then again, perhaps not, considering the participants involved were _her best friend_ and _her big sister_. Ruby's expression wasn't _exactly_ one of disapproval; more like confusion. Yang understood why she'd feel that way. Yang wasn't certain how she herself felt.

"You… like Jaune?" Ruby finally asked, her voice once more turning meek and timid.

Yang thought long and hard. Did she?

Yes, but not like this. Yet when Raven dragged him away, she'd felt jealousy, somewhere in the back of her mind. She'd felt possessive of him, as though Raven's claiming him for herself had been some personal theft from _Yang_ rather than, say, from his teammates and closest friends. She was upset Raven hadn't even acknowledged her, but that was only one of many strong emotions that ran through her at that moment… and still churned slowly beneath the surface now.

"I don't know how I feel about Jaune," Yang admitted. "We didn't get a chance to talk before… before Raven showed up. Kind of a lot's happened today."

"No kidding," was Ruby's dry response.

For a long time both were silent. Ruby uttered a quiet, very awkward cough.

"Are you worried about him?" Ruby asked.

A day ago, Jaune had been a friend from school. Not even necessarily a _close_ friend… someone she'd smile at and wave to, maybe someone she'd hug if the mood took her (and she could endure Pyrrha glaring daggers at her), someone she'd make small talk with. She didn't know about his family, or his home, or his hopes and dreams, other than wanting to be a huntsman and do right by his family name. When she spent time with him it was usually in tandem with the rest of his teammates, and before seeing his new training method and their sparring session she'd never indulged in a single romantic thought about him.

Now he was her first. Whatever he'd been before, he was an important part of her life now. It'd be easy for her to blame the alcohol or their mutual sorrow bringing them together, but Yang didn't want to consider the act a mistake. She didn't want to think what they'd shared together was _wrong_ just because it hadn't been something either of them had planned.

And when she thought back on what they'd shared, when he took hold of her hand, showing the same acceptance of her changes Ruby had, and then when he'd held onto that hand all throughout, feeling cold metal against his body and willingly intertwining his fingers with hers', allowing her to feel him and let go of any shame or doubt she felt with the new appendage… and when he held her hand as they lay in bed together, never releasing that spark she'd felt the first time he held onto her…

Yang wasn't sure what word was best to describe that feeling. But she didn't need to know exactly what it was, so long as she knew she didn't want to let it go.

"Yeah," Yang finally admitted.

"That's how you know," Ruby told her.

Yang looked down at her robotic arm, flexing her fingers. She'd gotten used to reaching out with their artificial senses, the electricity they sent into her neurons to simulate the same feelings she'd had when her arm had been made of flesh and blood.

Her fingers felt cold now, without his hand to hold.

* * *

Raven had been delayed in following Jaune into the pathways, and as a result emerged a good distance from him as he'd tumbled through the dark. This place didn't adhere to the usual geometry of a plane like the remnant it sat adjacent to: when Raven walked on the surface of the dark, she stood perpendicular to Jaune, who hadn't even realized what he'd wandered into.

With the small piece of his Aura she'd retrieved, Raven embedded her sword with his light, cutting into the gaps to shorten the breadth of her journey, the soul seeking to rebuild and complete itself. She allowed it to guide her, and moved quickly in pursuit of it, because she knew the creatures would pursue her now that she'd dared enter their house.

Jaune's light had kept many of them at bay, so hopefully if Raven drew nearer to it they'd abandon their pursuit of her. She could already hear their whispers, and she could hear their skittering feet and their flapping wings. They saw their means of escape, and they would try to reach her while the opportunity presented itself.

There was only one clear light in this void, and Raven made a beeline for it. She didn't break her stride for even a moment, not stopping even when she slashed at an oncoming adversary on her right, dividing it from its outstretched limb, depositing the offending appendage into another section of the pathway, buying her time and diverting the attention of one of the innumerable horde.

She raced to him, pulling the two disparate strands of light together, illuminating more and more of the dark path and eventually finding her quarry, only to find she wasn't the only one interested in acquiring him.

One of the horde was encircling him, slowly drawing him into its web. It must've been an elder to have grown so large and so bold, with its spindly and segmented legs gradually enveloping Jaune under their sheer number…

"Jaune!" Raven called, her voice reverberating in her mask and echoing through the dark, the sound sending some of the younger and smaller ones away.

Jaune started to turn, and the elder reacted, trying to close its trap and ensnare Jaune in its many legs…

Raven concentrated, reaching out with her Aura to bind the fragment of Jaune's blade to either surface of her sword, and then added a second helping of energy as she reached out with her Semblance and found the gaps in the smothering darkness, the places where she could move the matter around…

Raven struck in time, striking at the elder's spindly leg, driving half of the limb to elsewhere in the void. The elder screeched in pain and drew back, but remained before her. Clearly it wouldn't give up on its target when it had been so close.

Jaune -who likely couldn't see his dangerous adversary- asked her: "Why did you do that?"

Qrow was right; he _was_ slow. "What did this one promise you?" Raven demanded.

"Promise me…?" Jaune repeated, but Raven had no time to inquire further. The elder righted itself on its remaining legs and moved to capture Jaune again, and Raven once more had to utilize more of her Aura, severing another of the creature's legs and sending it back again.

She might be able to best this elder, but the others already knew of her arrival. If she exhausted too much of her energy, she'd be left vulnerable. If they managed to summon their courage and attack in force she'd be outmatched. If this old one succeeded in capturing Jaune Arc, all this would be for naught.

"Give me your Aura," Raven flatly instructed.

"What?" was Jaune's eloquent reply.

She had no time for this. She had to show him what they were up against, before his ignorance cost them further. She had tossed him into the pathways for the express purpose of educating him, and the best lessons were memorable.

And direct.

Raven slashed Jaune where his armor was weakest, and -as she expected- his Aura responded to absorb much of the impact, flickering along the surface of his body. Raven concentrated, bending the fabric of the dark and pulling the bright yellow pulse of his soul to the surface of her blade.

Jaune winced and held to his unarmored side. Raven took hold of the back of his head with her free hand and pushed him to look forward, to see the monster about to ensnare him…

Jaune's blue eyes widened as he saw it, a shadow illuminated by the light now encircling Raven's great sword, of a multi-legged, spider-like creature reaching down towards him, though he couldn't make out greater detail than that. He _could_ , however, see when those details were altered by Raven's blade, as she slashed the spider-like creature, bisecting two of its spindly legs. It staggered back, its shadow becoming darker and murkier as the light faded on the surface of Raven's sword.

"What did it promise you?" Raven demanded. "Why did you listen?!"

Jaune was still taken aback. Raven growled to herself as she pushed Jaune forward and slashed across his back, disrupting his Aura again and drawing the light to the surface of her blade.

She had to concentrate now, and find their way back. She searched for the disruptions of the remnant adjacent, to the point where reality bent and contorted, responding to the uncontrollable misfortune generated by her twin. Raven saw where they needed to be, and pulled Jaune down to join her on her section of the pathway, having to carry his extra weight behind her as he failed to find his footing.

As Raven ran –as best she could dragging his dead weight- Jaune looked behind them as the multi-legged creature chased after them, accompanied by other, smaller creatures of varying shapes and sizes. Unlike the Grimm and their various uniform species, these creatures in the dark had no unifying feature: some looked almost humanoid, others like various animals, with wings and claws and tails. They ran the gamut of sizes, but Raven ran by them so quickly Jaune couldn't make out all the details of them. Some actively fled from his and Raven's path as they ran by, others joined the large spider creature in chasing them.

Jaune tried to stand -to run alongside Raven- but found no 'ground' to plant his feet upon. The beasts and shadows pursuing them had no such difficulty, pursuing on the same path Raven ran along or crawling along the 'walls' illuminated by his Aura on her blade, or even seemed to simply float through the empty black in their chase. Jaune wasn't sure which of these things had spoken to him, but they seemed less interested in making any sort of pact now and more likely to cut him up with their claws or their spindly legs.

Raven was beginning to lose her step as she tried to manage the extra weight. She slashed to her right at one of the creatures drawing a little too close, but carrying Jaune with her left arm, she'd left another flank unprotected…

She was struck in the side. Her Aura, already directed to her blade, made for a feeble defense that the creature's claw easily pierced. She felt it scratch right through her black cloth and dig deep into her armor plating… eventually driving several gashes deep into her skin.

Raven kept running, trying to will herself towards the distortion. But she felt blood dribbling down her side, all the way down to her hip and along her leg… she was slowing down, and if she continued to lose her step… if she didn't reach the exit in time…

Another creature struck her unguarded flank. This time she had no Aura to shield her at all and took the full brunt of the attack. Raven tumbled forward, flinging Jaune over her head and she rolled along the dark floor, skidding to a halt.

Jaune, still floating through the dark without ground to stand upon, looked back at Raven lying on some indiscernible ground, her sword lying a few feet from her hand, still illuminating the legion of creatures chasing them, drawing closer to Raven while she was vulnerable.

She'd thrown Jaune into this nightmarish place, attempted to bind their souls together against his will, and deliberately cut him several times since she'd found him in here. Yet she was his only means of escaping this place –short of agreeing to the spider monster's offer- and more pressingly, she was still a human being surrounded by monsters. He may not have graduated and become a huntsman, but defending others from monsters in the darkness was what he'd devoted his life to doing.

Jaune wiggled about in the dark, trying to find something to stand on, but failing that he pushed himself towards Raven, even in his slow floating motion. He drew Crocea Mors and continued to force himself closer to her.

Raven was gradually managing to her feet, and Jaune saw the pair of bleeding wounds in her left side. He was tempted to make a smart comment about the predicament Raven had placed them in, but he really figured there'd be a better time. He continued to move closer, trying to reach a hand out towards Raven as the monsters in the dark continued to fall upon her.

Raven summoned her strength and reached out to pull Jaune by his wrist, dragging him beside her and then pushing him down, giving him a solid surface to stand upon in the dark pathways. Jaune turned his attention to the approaching monsters, readying his sword and shield.

" _Is this what you wish, wandering light?"_ the spider-like creature whispered, in more hiss than words. _"To die beside your jailer?"_

Jaune raised his shield and stood between Raven and the horde. "You won't be killing anyone today."

He heard Raven's haggard breath behind him as she picked up her sword, pressing her back to Jaune's as she faced off against others of the horde, even the smaller ones finding courage now that they had their prey surrounded.

"I need you to trust me now," Raven told him. "I've shown you why I need you –and it pains me to say I need you- and right now you're our only way out."

"How?" Jaune asked, keeping his eyes on the spider creature and its allies, slowly creeping nearer.

"Give me your Aura. Willingly bind it to me," Raven instructed.

"Uh… okay," Jaune agreed. "And I do that… how?"

Raven couldn't believe this boy had somehow survived travelling Anima this long. She reached her free left hand over and took hold of Jaune's wrist and snapped at him: "Don't fight me. Just let this happen."

Jaune didn't much like the sound of her wording, but complied. He felt himself becoming rapidly more worn down, his armor feeling heavier on his chest and shoulders, his shield weighing down on his arm…

He saw the spider creature drawing close, its shadow growing dimmer…

Then a surge of light, all around him, as Raven forced him to the invisible ground, swinging her sword over his head in a wide arc, cutting many of the innumerable shadows in twain. The spider creature fell forward, unable to support the weight of its central body with too few legs to hold it up.

Jaune felt himself being dragged along something that felt like flat ground, seeing the heel of Raven's boots ahead of him, a single point of red in the dark. Raven was saying something he couldn't make out, still illuminating their path with his Aura encircling her blade.

Jaune faintly saw some of the shadows in his peripheral vision, lining up on either side of Raven but never daring to engage her. Even as she staggered and Jaune felt a drop of her blood splatter on his cheek the creatures did not continue their pursuit.

Raven found the distortion she was seeking, and when Jaune looked up he faintly saw one of the dim lights he'd seen before, the place where the darkness was not so thick, and illuminated by Raven's blade he saw what looked like some sort of air current, pushing the shadows back and forth.

Raven cut into it, and stepped through, pulling Jaune along behind her…

* * *

Nora wasn't sure what Ruby saw in her uncle. He constantly stunk of liquor and seemed to enjoy telling stories about himself; mostly stories where he ended up getting drunk in some seedy tavern and somehow winning over a local waitress with his charms. Every single story seemed to involve him indulging his alcoholism and womanizing his way through every town he passed through… it was a small wonder Ruby turned out to be the good girl she was if _this_ was one of her primary role models. Nora would make a point to extoll a favor from Ruby after the fact if she had to put up with Qrow's company much longer.

She was just about to reach for her hammer after one of his _particularly_ derogatory remarks, only for her attention to be drawn to a portal appearing beside Qrow's bed. She and Ren immediately readied their weapons and Qrow sat up, only to stagger back a bit onto his pillow as he overexerted himself.

Raven emerged, dragging Jaune behind her, the blonde lying flat on his face as she pulled him onto the wooden floor of the inn. Nora immediately rushed to his side, reaching down to help him up and support him at his shoulder. As she helped Jaune to his feet, Nora noted the wound in Raven's left side and the blood still dripping down her armor and onto the floor… she'd been wounded, and based on how heavy her breathing was on the other side of her mask, probably quite vulnerable. If they worked in tandem, she, Ren, and the sisters could maybe deal with her in a way that _didn't_ require giving Jaune to her for the rest of his life.

"What happened?" Qrow replied, intervening quickly to defuse the tension before Nora got anymore ideas.

"I showed him what we're up against," Raven explained. "I showed him why I need him."

Ren stepped over to help Nora carry Jaune, the two setting him down on the bed adjacent to Qrow's. He took a moment to gain his bearings and –though he didn't seem to be harmed- he seemed just as winded as Raven with his haggard breathing. "I'm… I'm okay, guys… I just… I saw them…"

He wasn't sure how to describe what he'd seen. He wasn't sure he'd believe it himself were the monsters in the dark not so fresh in his memory.

Jaune looked up at Raven, then to the wound in her side. "Look, I'm sure now's not a great time to talk, but now you've forced me to pay attention. So tell me."

"Tell you what?" was Raven's flippant reply.

"Why you need to marry me," Jaune replied. "Why do you need that when I could just give you my Aura and you could fight them off?"

Raven was slow to respond, waiting until she caught her breath, still holding her side, willing the wound to scab over under the pressure she'd applied. "I'm thinking about the future, Jaune Arc," she explained. "I could've cut you until you bled out every last drop of your soul, and it'd have been enough to fend off that horde we faced. But that was only a small detachment of the army wandering that darkness.

"And you could let me draw it from within you, using it as fuel, but without binding our souls together, I was vulnerable to the enemy's attack," Raven continued. "It doesn't matter how powerful your strike is if there's another enemy waiting to hit you before you can attack again. Your Aura is powerful, and it damaged them… but it is still _your_ Aura, and if I were to use it I'd have to leave myself without my own protections. Until we have sealed the pact and be made as one, you are a sword without its shield.

"And finally, because I am not the only one who peers into the gap," Raven added, glancing at Qrow, who pointedly averted his eyes "Because there are others who might try to reach into that dark and find their way in, I want to pass your Aura on… to the next generation."

Jaune wasn't quite dumb enough to miss her implication. "You want to-?"

"Please," Raven interjected. " _Not_ the point. The point is the enemy is getting stronger, and if you agree to join me, I can keep them at bay. If you don't… eventually, inevitably, they'll find their way out. They'll find their way to this remnant and make it just as black and empty as their home."

Jaune recalled what the spider creature had offered… the first two suggestions had involved death and destruction. Many of its peers had been afraid of his light, encouraging others to 'smother' him and 'wash him away'. Whatever temptation he'd felt at the possibility of returning to the past, of writing the wrongs before now…

"And what will you do if I don't?" Jaune asked.

"I will fight as long as I can," Raven promised. "But eventually I will weaken. Eventually, they will overwhelm me. I don't know how long it'll be –I'm sure this trip bought us at least _some_ time while they rethink their movements- but it'll happen, sooner or later."

"You said you'd heard them all your life," Jaune reminded her. "Why is this happening _now_?"

Raven glanced back at Qrow, who still avoided looking at his sister. Nora and Ren remained perplexed, and Qrow's lack of response left them even more lost. Raven turned her attention back to Jaune and said: "They sensed another distortion fading, and pounced on the opportunity. When they saw that I had faltered too… they knew their chance had arrived."

"But Qrow'll be healed in a few days," Nora interjected. "Then they won't have any reason to keep trying, right?"

"They'll have _more_ reason to," Raven flatly replied. "Because his Semblance will once again assert itself and distort the energy of this remnant further. Once my brother is healed, they will be able to cut me off from him again, and I won't have anywhere to retreat to."

Silence hung in the room.

"I know this is a lot to take in," Raven allowed, her words still blunt but her tone much softer. "And I'm sure this isn't the life you pictured for yourself. So take time and weigh your options. Decide your course once your mind is clear."

Raven patted at her wound. "I'm sure you need time to rest, and I'll need some time to heal. Take this day and consider my request. Speak to those you love, set your affairs in order, decide on what price my tribe must pay to add you to our ranks, and prepare for your new life. I won't force you to come with me… I'll leave our fates to you."

She stepped forward, hobbling a bit on her unsteady feet. She hesitated a moment at Jaune's beside, turning her masked head to look directly at him. "And for my daughter's sake, come with me. Do not think she'll be safer in your bed. Forget what you had and be ready to move on."

"Your _what_?" Jaune barely muttered as Raven stepped outside.

" _You_ _**what?!**_ " Qrow snapped, turning his attention to Jaune. Ren and Nora glanced sheepishly at him as Jaune thought on what Raven meant. Qrow had no such difficulty, as he tried to drag himself out of his bed, approaching Jaune with clear malicious intent.

Jaune could swear his life made sense a few hours ago. Even in mourning as he was, he had some sense of his place in the world and could push on despite the pain of his loss. Even pursuing someone strong enough to command people as powerful as Cinder and Tyrian, Jaune felt fewer things were trying to kill him back then.

And as Qrow drew nearer, Jaune was less concerned with the impending attack of an overprotective uncle than the fact the woman asking to marry him to protect the world from evil shadow monsters was the _mother_ of Yang Xiao Long, the first woman he'd ever taken to bed.

And he thought he had girl problems _before_.

* * *

Raven staggered into the nearest unoccupied room and sat on the nearest bed, propping herself up against its headboard and the wall behind it. Once she found a comfortable groove she rested there, even as she bled onto the mattress. She'd made a point to pay the innkeeper for two meals, but she really wasn't inclined to pay for a room right now. She'd sort that detail out later.

Until the door opened and a familiar girl stepped inside, lighting up the room with her shining blonde hair, fair skin and lavender eyes. For a long time she just stood in the doorway and looked at Raven.

"What do you want?" Raven asked, harsher than she might've intended to be.

"You're the one in my room," Yang told her. "Did you finally decide to acknowledge me?"

Raven never intended to acknowledge her. She hadn't expected to ever see this girl again. "What do you want me to say?"

"I have a lot of questions," Yang answered simply. "I'm sure you can guess a few of them."

Raven sighed. She had hoped to avoid this, but she needed time to heal up, and so long as she'd be taking away the boy her daughter liked enough to lay with… "Very well." She gestured to the second bed in the room, and Yang sat across from her.

Raven reached up to remove her mask, finally meeting her daughter's eye. When their eyes met, Raven saw the blazing red behind the cool lilac. "Yang…" she began slowly, "we have _a lot_ to talk about."


	5. Words and Deeds

**Chapter Five: Words and Deeds**

* * *

Ruby heard a commotion coming from the room she'd been sharing with her uncle. She'd left Yang's side and rushed over, only to find her Uncle Qrow out of bed and standing upright, violently shaking Jaune back and forth by his collar, while Ren and Nora hung off either of his arms trying to wrench him away.

Ruby moved to intervene, both to save Jaune from his imminent demise and to put her uncle back to bed before he overexerted himself. Working in tandem with Ren and Nora, Ruby managed to finally pull Qrow's hands from Jaune's neck and gently guided him back to his bed. Hopefully all the energy he'd spent getting up and throttling Jaune would leave him too winded to continue his assault. "I guess he found out?" Ruby dryly inquired.

Nora nodded. "I'm thinking we give it another few hours and everyone in Mistral will hear about it."

Their banter did nothing to improve Qrow's mood. "Just when I was starting to like you, blondie, you decide today is a good day to hook up with my niece?!"

Jaune was apparently still too shaken to reply, so Ren addressed Qrow's concerns on his leader's behalf. "I don't believe Jaune was expecting your sister to propose to him today. Otherwise I'm sure he'd have tried to manage the time accordingly."

"Don't get smart with me, kid," Qrow warned, before turning his attention to Ruby. "And you knew? Were you planning on telling your uncle?"

"I just found out a minute ago!" Ruby protested, before abruptly changing tactics. "Besides, _you_ never talked to me about your sister or her whole deal!"

"And that was a mistake," Qrow admitted. "I never wanted you to get caught up in her web and all the things she's up to; all the things she's _already done_ …" He took a deep breath. "Okay, let's focus for a minute. Let's hash things out."

Ruby glanced back at Jaune, still sitting quietly and looking quite despondent. She stepped over from Qrow's bedside to Jaune's, reaching down to place a hand on his shoulder. "Jaune?"

Jaune wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. He was still a little overwhelmed by his trip into some kind of strange pocket dimension with sentient spider monsters that threatened Remnant with their incursion, and then Raven explained wanting him to father a child with her, and _then_ she let him (and Qrow) know that she knew about him and Yang, who just so happened to be _Raven's daughter_. He was nowhere close to being able to process what happened, let alone explain his actions to Yang's apparently quite protective uncle.

What should he say? Qrow was a drunk; maybe hearing he and Yang shared some booze beforehand would help… no, that would probably just give him further encouragement to throttle Jaune. Both he and Yang were recovering from trauma after Beacon fell; surely a seasoned huntsman would understand how lingering tensions might flare up in such a strange and intimate way. Or Qrow might just think Jaune took advantage of his niece while she was in a fragile emotional state and be completely unsympathetic to Jaune's own doubts.

Really, Yang hadn't been on his mind until Raven brought her up. Even now, he was less concerned about what his relationship was with Yang than _the imminent threat of monsters from another dimension_.

"Qrow, you're the one who let her pitch this to us," Jaune pointed out. "You knew those things were real, too. You knew what they were capable of."

"All I knew was it gave Raven an excuse not to be around," Qrow replied, briefly glancing at the back of Ruby's head. "I know what it is to have a dangerous Semblance –believe me I do- but I didn't up and leave…" He paused as he considered his words. "…I didn't up and leave Oz and abandon the fight against Salem because I had better things to do." He pointed an index finger at Jaune. "But don't change the subject. Yang, remember? Or you already decided to trade up for my sister?"

"You're the one who brought her in!" Jaune snapped back. "Why'd you even have her meet with me?"

"Because unreliable though she is, Raven _does_ know a few things," Qrow answered. "And while I wasn't _planning_ on selling you off to her before, that idea's really grown on me in the last few minutes for _some reason_ …"

Ruby intervened, slapping her uncle's shoulder and casting him a disapproving glare. "What does Raven know?"

Qrow glanced around the room. "Wasn't that long ago we were talking about them… and Raven may have a lead on one of them." He turned his attention to Jaune. "Trust me when I say this kid: I didn't think about letting her take you with her before, but I _was_ weighing our options. It might've been worth the trade."

" _What_ might have been worth the trade?" Nora asked, moving closer to Jaune and narrowing her eyes at Qrow.

"The Spring Maiden," Qrow answered. "Raven knows where she is."

* * *

Yang started with the obvious. "Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave me and Dad?"

"You weren't what I wanted," Raven bluntly replied. "I thought your father would give me strong children, and he didn't. You were a disappointment and you weren't worth the trouble."

Raven looked straight at her and harshly dismissed her. Yang refused to look away, to show any doubt or shame, to let her know that this flippant reply had hurt her. "If you just wanted a strong kid, why did you marry Dad?"

"I loved him," Raven answered flatly.

"Loved…? How can you even say that? You left him!" Yang snapped.

Raven shrugged. "Nothing lasts forever. I _loved_ him: _past tense_. He was my partner at Beacon and we fought side by side so many times that I came to respect him, care for him… and eventually love him enough to think of him as something more than my partner. It was good while it lasted. I enjoyed the time we had."

Raven seemed quite whimsical considering how callous her words were. Yang had hoped there'd be something more complex there, like maybe this business with invading monsters from another dimension was involved somehow. "And what, I came along and you just stopped loving him right then?"

"Pretty much," Raven confirmed. "It was possible another child would've turned out better, but I'd still be saddled with you. And seeing as Taiyang kept you around, he'd have only poisoned the next one's mind thinking something weak could remain."

Yang felt her hands shaking, her temper rising below the surface. She tried to keep herself calm, carefully measuring the length of each breath. "And now you want to marry Jaune. Gonna' leave him too if he doesn't give you the kid you want?"

"That shouldn't be an issue," Raven answered. "Once I've bound us together I'll be able to draw his Aura to me. The next generation will inherit the trait I have in mind, and I will ensure they're strong enough to carry on this duty."

Yang's two conflicting emotions were suddenly in alignment. Her jealousy at Raven trying to abscond with Jaune and her resentment at being abandoned compounded together, thinking of Raven using him for no other reason than this…

Raven looked at Yang's trembling hands. "I had no idea you felt this way. I thought you just took him for pleasure."

Yang abruptly stopped all her motions, save for her widening eyes. Raven knew? How did she-?

"He has so much Aura, it leaves residue," Raven explained. "And when we were in the dark pathways, we were in very tight quarters, and he smelt very much like you. Each of you has left your mark upon the other."

Yang suddenly felt very self-conscious. She suppressed the urge to blush, to show any embarrassment at the thought of talking about this with Raven. It reminded her of talking to Summer about boys, even if she'd still been very young and hadn't yet truly understood anything about them…

Yang shook her head. Raven may have given birth to her, but she didn't deserve to be compared to Summer Rose. And clearly she'd never wished to be.

Yang steadied herself. "Well, since you know… I'm sure you can understand why I might not want you to take him away."

Raven shrugged again. "I'm sure there are many things you want, Yang. And I'm sure you've learned-" She very pointedly glanced at Yang's right arm. "- that you're not strong enough to take them."

Raven stood up, even unsteady on her feet and still applying pressure to her wounds. "I'd be only too happy to let you take Jaune Arc as your own and make whatever life you think you could have with him, but there is too much at stake for me to give him up. What is your happiness versus the survival of my people? What is Jaune Arc's life versus the safety of this remnant?" Raven finally averted her gaze from her daughter. "I will have him, Yang, because I _need_ to have him. Even if you felt the same, you're not strong enough to take him. Accept it. Cut your losses and move on."

Yang looked at the side of Raven's head. Her mother… the person Yang spent more than a decade looking for, hoping to understand something about herself, about her past, about the world, hoping that maybe there'd be some way to repair the damage done and add her wayward family back into her life…

This was what she spent her life chasing? _This_ was what had nearly cost Ruby her life because Yang was so desperate to know?

Yang stood up from her bed too. Raven turned to meet her gaze, betraying no doubt. Clearly, Raven knew who she was and didn't care if Yang disapproved. Yang had only one more question. "Why did you save me at Mountain Glenn?"

"Sentiment," Raven was quick to answer. "A favor for Taiyang's sake; not something I intend to repeat."

A favor…?

Yang scoffed and stormed past her, stepping out of the room and violently slamming the door behind her. She'd intended to give Raven a bit more time than that, to ask every possible question, about where she'd been, about who she'd met, about the time at Beacon and the time before that… but none of it mattered now. Raven's answers hurt worse than the silence Yang met the first time she'd asked the questions.

She'd waited most of her life to meet her mother, and now that she had Yang only wished she'd never found her. She'd rather have lived with doubt and uncertainty than know _this_ was the prize at the end of her journey.

Raven waited for several seconds after Yang left. She was well-practiced at keeping her composure and pulling back her emotions when she needed to, and this teenage girl hadn't quite managed to break through her defenses. She'd come very close, but -as Raven expected- Yang had become so disgusted as to walk out before she could realize how much damage had been done.

The words tasted bitter in Raven's mouth. It didn't usually hurt to tell the truth, but this… well, this dogma she spouted she'd once believed. It was easy to say she didn't need Yang, that Yang was weak, that her love for Taiyang had faded, because all those things were true. The Raven Branwen that existed before her daughter's birth would say those words and not regret speaking the truth.

The Raven Branwen who'd just spat on her daughter's hopes and ripped away a possible chance at happiness… all she could think was how hard it'd been to let her go, to sacrifice the chance to love someone and be loved in return, because that was what _had_ to be done.

Better to let Yang hate her. Better she should live, even if she'd never become as strong as her mother. For anyone else, Raven would see that as an unforgiveable sin. For a mother… for the first and only time Raven asked how strong she wanted her child to _have_ to be.

Raven returned to the bed and slipped on her mask. If anyone would try to eavesdrop they wouldn't hear her sobs; they'd be muffled under the obscuring shade. And under that mask, she'd remember what was important. She'd remember what she'd made the sacrifices for.

This would be over soon. Yang would be alive, and have another chance to find happiness. Raven would continue the battle, but it would not seem quite so hopeless.

She just had to bear the pain a while longer. She'd recover from her wounds and move on… but then, the pain of her wounds would always hurt less than her words and deeds.

* * *

Yang rejoined the others as Qrow was laying out his plan to Team RNJR. She was in kind of a daze and barely heard him talk, only that he intended to haggle as much as they could from Raven in return for Jaune: her tribe's assistance in the fight against Salem –whoever that was-, her help in defending Mistral while they were all on the same continent, and -most importantly- the location of the Spring Maiden, and Raven's help in keeping her safe from their enemies. Nora was definitely opposed to his plan, constantly interjecting to voice her disapproval. Ruby and Ren were more reserved, though neither seemed keen on trading Jaune to Raven.

Jaune himself, though… "Guys, I think we have to do it. There's too much at stake."

"Jaune-" Ruby began, but he raised his hand, waiting to quell her before he continued.

"I've seen what Raven's fighting against, and if we can get her help in the fight, then that's what we _have_ to do," Jaune explained. "I… I can't say this is how I pictured things going for me, but very few things in the past few months have turned out the way we planned them."

He very pointedly glanced at Yang, still lingering in the doorway. Yang met his eye, her expression turning fierce. "And you'll just go with her; let her take you away forever?"

Jaune continued to look at her, though he was quiet for several moments, deep in thought. He recalled taking her hand, sharing a drink, following her into her room…

Then he remembered the monsters in the pathways chasing after Raven and himself, and seeing some of them cut down by his Aura infused to her blade. He remembered one promising to return him to the past and fix his mistakes, knowing how easily he'd been tempted by a creature he couldn't see…

"I've seen what she's fighting," Jaune explained. "I understand why she's doing this, Yang. And she's strong –we all _know_ she's strong- and she'll be much more help against the baddies than I will. Look, I really don't want to do this, but I…" He sighed. "…I think we'll get more than we'll lose."

"Jaune," Nora interjected, but Ren reached over to take hold of her shoulder. She glared back at him for a moment before she composed herself. She understood Jaune's point, but hadn't q _uite_ managed to bottle her protective instincts.

Yang made no such attempt to follow her example. She reached down and hoisted Jaune up by the collar of his hoodie. "We're going to talk about this."

"Yang, if you think for one second I'm done with him-" Qrow began.

"Deal with it, Qrow," Yang snapped. "I made my choice then, and I'm making my choice now. Go back to protecting Ruby from boys; it's too late for me."

Jaune didn't resist Yang's grip as she pulled him along. He figured they'd be having this conversation sooner or later, and the prospect of marrying Yang's mother turned into an unexpected _alleviation_ of his burden. His hand had been forced, and he had to sacrifice for the good of Remnant. What would his feelings matter then?

As Yang pulled him along behind her, Ruby turned her attention to Qrow, still fixated on him with a disapproving glare. Qrow scoffed and averted his niece's eye, muttering about how he sympathized with their father for a change.

Ruby then turned her attention to Ren and Nora, both of whom were processing the thought of having to go forward without Jaune. No doubt they'd manage so long as they had each other, but he was their closest friend and –in many ways- a sort of surrogate family to them. They'd become increasingly protective of him after Pyrrha's death, and their support of his leadership had always been unwavering, even if they followed him in deferring to Ruby on their journey across Anima.

Ruby herself wasn't sure what to do. Jaune had clearly been shaken by his trip with Raven through the portal, and now seemed willing to accept Raven's offer for the greater good. If her Uncle Qrow was right and Raven could help them find one of the Maidens that might be an even greater help than rushing to Haven Academy.

And Raven –difficult as she could be- was once Qrow's teammate and was somewhere in the same category of power. As much as Ruby liked Jaune, and as much as he'd undeniably improved, she knew he wasn't _wrong_ to consider her help more valuable than his own.

She was angry at herself for even considering this. She was angry at Jaune for his willingness to accept this fate. She was angry at Raven for snatching her best friend away. She was angry at Qrow for letting her stick around and present the offer in the first place.

* * *

Yang eventually released her grip on Jaune's collar and instead took hold of his wrist, deliberately holding onto him with her left hand as she led him along. With her own room occupied by Raven, Yang took Jaune into the room he'd been splitting with Ren and Nora. Once inside and behind a locked door, she switched to her right hand in taking hold of his throat and pushing him up against the wall.

Jaune was surprisingly calm, even with her cold metal fingers wrapped around his neck. He was very patient in his tone when he asked: "Yang?"

"You are _not_ marrying my mother," Yang flatly told him.

"How many times do I have to say _I don't want to_?" Jaune reminded her. " _None of this_ has turned out how I wanted Yang."

Yang focused on those cool blue eyes of his. She remembered looking across at them standing in the doorway, then looking down upon them lying on her bed…

Yang released her grip on his neck and then reached her right hand down to take hold of his left, to search for the spark that had prompted her to act, to feel his warmth when she was feeling so cold. "None?" she repeated.

Jaune fought hard to maintain his eye contact with her, though it was clearly a struggle for him. "A day ago, things made sense. Maybe I wasn't in a good place, but I thought I was finding my way out of it; I thought I was moving forward, little by little. Then you came in, and it was something new and exciting and different, and all I could think about was what happened before… about what I'd left behind. About what I'd _missed_."

Yang remembered the training video, that he'd been playing over and over again. She remembered hearing Pyrrha try -desperately- to confess her feelings and fail to do so, and how guilty Jaune looked when he thought about how oblivious he'd been, turning to the bottle of gin for comfort. She thought about him leaving her bed. "Do you regret it?" she finally asked.

Jaune knew what the easy answer was. He knew that if he could just say he was wrong -that he'd been feeling vulnerable and alone and it led to him being impulsive- he'd be able to drive her away. It'd hurt her and she might lash out at him, but it'd put the blame on him and it'd make it easier for her to accept his leaving and ensure she wouldn't miss him when he was gone.

But then Jaune thought on Yang's support and encouragement at Beacon, and then her kindness in reaching out to him when he was down, and how their shared losses brought them closer together.

"I never expected this," Jaune admitted. "I never thought about this; honest, I never thought this would happen. I don't know what we were before, and I _really_ don't know what we are now."

He steeled himself. Yang needed more than those waffling excuses. She needed a definitive answer, and he owed it to her to say it; to be a bigger man than he really was and tell her he'd made a mistake, and she shouldn't chase after something that was doomed even before Raven came into the picture.

Feeling her hand in his, he remembered waking beside her, feeling her breathing on his neck…

He thought on the guilt he'd felt when he'd heard Pyrrha's voice, he wondered what she'd think, he wondered if the dead judged the living, he wondered if any of this mattered when spider monsters and legions of other nightmares were trying to attack… and then he thought of the hand holding his now, and the lilac eyes he was looking into.

He knew what he _should_ say. But then he remembered how Pyrrha had advised him once, when he'd pursued a woman other than her. She'd reminded him to be honest and sincere, and if nothing else, that was easy for him to remember.

"I don't regret it," Jaune finally said. "I… I don't want you to regret it either. I don't want you to think what we had – _whatever it is we had_ \- was a mistake."

Yang had the same thought before. Now she had another, tightening her grip on Jaune's hand. "What we _have_."

Jaune finally broke his gaze from her, unable to maintain it any longer. "Yang, I… I really wish we could see what this was –um, what this _is_ \- and where it'll all go, but after the things I saw in there…"

"Tell her we can find another way," Yang insisted. "Tell her you have someone else."

"I want to," Jaune assured her. "I _want_ to tell her that. But what happens if it isn't enough? Do you really think your mother dropped down to her knee because she thought she had any other choice?"

Yang cursed him his logic. She didn't want to consider that possibility. She didn't want to acknowledge _anything_ Raven Branwen suggested had been true. "It's still your choice," she fiercely replied.

Jaune continued to avert his eyes. "I saw them, Yang. The threat is real. I can't just forget that."

"Yes, you can!" Yang snapped, reaching her left hand to his chin and turning his head upwards, making him face her. "You can decide for yourself! You don't have to -I don't even know what this is- sacrifice just because she said she needs you to!"

"And what about Salem and all her bad guy buddies, Yang?" Jaune asked. "How do we stop Cinder and Tyrian and all the others ? Qrow can't beat them by himself. You can't, Ruby can't, certainly _I_ can't! I wish it was so simple as just working together and fighting them off, but we _can't_. We tried to fight just _one_ of them –Ren, Nora, Ruby and me- and _we lost_. Now, maybe I can do something that'll help us in that fight… and I _have_ to do it if I can. I _have_ to help."

Yang was seething now. Raven's words echoed louder and louder in her head, and her grip on Jaune was tightening, no doubt becoming quite painful as her metal fingers squeezed his flesh and bone. He winced, but Jaune had yet to complain.

Raven was _not_ right. Yang wouldn't let her be right. She _was_ strong enough to take what she wanted.

And she would.

"I don't want to talk about what you _have_ to do," Yang finally said, relaxing her grip, calming her nerves. "I want to know what you _want_ to do. I want to know what you'd do right now if you didn't think you had to agree to this insane proposal. Tell me."

Jaune held her gaze for a long time. He felt her hand in his own, and firmly in her grip the memories of a few hours ago flooded back to him.

Yang had made the first move. He thought it only fair he show the initiative this time.

Jaune leaned forward and kissed her. Yang was taken aback at first, but soon her left hand was running through his blonde locks, pulling him in tighter, as Jaune's right hand moved around her back and pulled her up at the waist. They held that embrace for several long moments before Jaune finally broke away.

"That," he said simply. "I'd do that."

Yang nodded, and for the first time in their conversation, it was her turn to avert her gaze. "I don't know what this is either. I don't know how these things are supposed to go or what they're supposed to be like… but _I want this_." Once a little more sure of her feelings, Yang was able to look at him again. "I don't care what happens next, I don't care what it's supposed to mean or how it's supposed to change us: I want _this_."

Jaune nodded. "I want this, too."

A few minutes ago he'd been relieved that he could end this relationship, ensnared by the burden of his duty and forced to give up on whatever he might've had with Yang. Now, in her embrace, he couldn't think of leaving it.

Let the dead judge. Let his memories try to remind him of pain and loss. Let nightmares try to force their way out of the dark. The lilac eyes before him and the hand holding his own were every bit as real, and far, _far_ more important now.

Jaune hoisted Yang up by her waist and kissed her again, pushing her down onto one of the two beds in the room. Yang was initially surprised by his assertive display, but quickly found herself pleased with where they'd ended up.

Yang tightened her grip, never once letting go of Jaune's hand, holding the spark that united them close, vowing to never let it leave her again. This bond she'd forged with him had its meaning; she didn't know what it was or where it was going, only that it was hers and his and what each of them wanted.

The world was a dangerous place and the weight of reality had a way of crushing any sense of optimism and hope; Yang and Jaune had each learned that lesson on the same day. But moments like these, feelings like these… there was a reason to cling to them and dare to hope again.

* * *

 _Very Early Morning_

Raven had not slept well, with her wounds continuing to bother her and her discussion with Yang still haunting her thoughts. She might've preferred a restful night to mitigate the pain of the damage inflicted upon her, but she knew how rare such things were, and it would not come tonight.

And for the leader of a tribe of warriors, thieves, and outcasts, she knew better than to ever relax her guard.

Raven rolled out of the bed a moment before the dagger fell, and drew her blade to counter the swing of an axe, pushing its wielder away. Raven leveled her greatsword at two assailants, barely visible in the dim candlelight, save for the red pauldrons they wore, the armor granted to those who'd been promoted from simple thugs and highwaymen to captains.

Raven took in the intricacies of their armor, and the build of either assailant: both men, one thin and wispy, the other tall and hulking. She then considered who among her tribe might be bold enough to try such an attack. If they thought her vulnerable, that number would be enormous. If they thought her distracted and they'd decided on a bit of forethought…

"Debian," she greeted the thin one, before turning to his taller associate. "Amaranth."

The thin one answered first. "You're overdue."

Raven considered how best to approach the situation. His wording was a veiled threat, just in case she decided not to take their attack seriously; a reminder that they could resume trying to kill her at any moment. "I am _negotiating_ ," Raven assured them.

"Negotiating," Amaranth spat. "You should've taken your prize and returned to Kuroyuri."

He was all muscle and no brains; nothing but a blunt instrument who rose through the ranks on nothing but power and grit. No doubt whatever deal he'd struck with Debian to form this alliance would more beneficial to his smaller partner. "And you two negotiated, didn't you? Decided to split power once your leader was gone?"

"We're not the only ones willing to entertain the idea," Debian quickly interjected, before his musclebound associate could think too hard on Raven's implication.

"And are you the only ones who forgot the rules?" Raven asked. "You drew your weapons in the presence of your chieftain. You know what has to happen now."

"Blood must be shed," Amaranth agreed.

Debian was far less eager to continue now that Raven was armed and on her feet. "Only testing our leader's mettle." He pulled his dagger out of the bedspread and turned it flat in his palm. "We were… concerned."

Blatant lies, but right now Raven had no need of going through another round of infighting with her subordinates. There were challenges enough ahead.

But then again, there were rules to abide by. "Amaranth is right," Raven told them. "Blood _must_ be shed." She pointed her great sword forth. "And it won't be mine."

The two captains exchanged looks. No doubt they hadn't intended for this attempted coup to end as abruptly as it had… and neither were eager to pay the price. Exactly as Raven hoped, their loyalty to whatever deal they'd made was far outweighed by their self-interest.

Debian again interceded before his 'ally' could think too much on the situation. Reluctantly, the wispy thief shifted his dagger in his hand, taking hold of its hilt, and then cut a long line along his opposite arm, pouring drops onto the wooden floor. Amaranth strapped his axe to his back and Debian found his dagger its sheath, leaving his wound open.

Raven accepted this outcome, lowering her great sword. "The boy is here. He _will_ come with us tomorrow. He's putting his affairs in order and his allies are haggling over the price."

"He'd better be worth it," Amaranth grunted.

"He will be," Raven assured. "He's already fought in the dark pathways. He's seen what we're up against."

That was an error on her part. She'd reminded them how much simpler their lives would be if they'd simply succeeded in assassinating her; if they'd removed her unstable powers from the equation. Raven didn't think that'd stop the elders from trying to carry out their plan, but if they thought killing her was a simpler solution… if they ever worked in collaboration and moved on it… it was best Raven not bring up the possibility.

"And what will we do to earn your little trophy?" Debian asked, finally reaching over to apply pressure to his wound.

Raven's first instinct was to snark about helping her brother find a woman, but she suppressed the thought. They'd have more to use against her if she reminded them they were making a pact with someone who'd already abandoned their tribe: by law, her brother should already be dead, and only Raven's leadership bought him his life.

Instead Raven composed a different answer. "Salem will eventually need to be fought. And we'll need to fight her."

"We were going to do that anyway," Debian remarked, his eyes racing back and forth as he tried to understand what toll was being exacted from them, and what his personal stake might be.

"At a time of our choosing," Raven reminded him. "Not anymore."

Now Debian understood and raised no further objection. Amaranth asked: "And when will we return?"

"End of the day," Raven assured him. "He's still young: let him remember who he is before he has to surrender himself. Tonight he is ours'."

That satisfied them… for the moment. Raven knew that she'd managed to stay their hands, but only for so long. Eventually they might be ambitious enough to try again.

She abandoned any plans to sleep. Clearly she couldn't rest with so many eyes –and daggers- at her back.

* * *

Yang squeezed the fingers in her right hand. She was quite surprised to feel a set of fingers resting there between her own, and when she opened her eyes and saw Jaune's blonde head resting beside her own, and glanced down to see his hand holding onto hers', at last she found what she'd been seeking.

He hadn't left her. Whatever reason he'd had the first time, it hadn't convinced him to leave her _this_ time. Now he was hers, and she his for this moment.

And more to come, because Yang liked waking up to this feeling. She liked what preceded it, and wanted to know what else could follow it.

She wasn't going to lose this. Not to Raven. Not to anyone.

* * *

Breakfast was a tense affair. Qrow was still irritated about Yang and Jaune, and Nora and Ren hadn't gotten much sleep –both because they worried about Jaune's fate and because they tried to sleep on the wooden floor in Qrow and Ruby's room- and Ruby had tossed and turned all night thinking on her big sister and her best friend.

And now Raven had two friends with her, both carrying weapons and dressed in heavy, blood-red armor. Yang and Jaune hadn't emerged from their room. Details still hadn't been hashed out, and now they had a bigger audience to discuss the finer points with.

Things were precarious, and the stakes were massive. The last thing the situation needed was a reckless, impulsive action.

While Raven and her subordinates sat down for a meal, Yang finally emerged from the room JN_R had been sharing and marched downstairs.

She slapped both her hands down on the table and stared her mother down. "He's not going with you."

Raven betrayed nothing, flippantly replying. "He is. He _knows_ he is."

"I'm not letting you take him," Yang flatly replied.

"You can't stop me," Raven assured her.

Yang knew her mother was powerful. Yang knew that no matter how much she improved training with her Dad and working on finesse and strategy, she still couldn't compare to four years of combat school and whatever dangers she'd faced in two decades of constant battle against men and monsters alike.

Yang knew what happened the last time she faced an enemy with a sword in hand.

Then she remember holding onto Jaune's hand, and the spark, and how desperate she'd been to prove Raven wrong.

"I guess we'll have to find out," Yang fiercely replied, her eyes turning red.

Raven could not break her gaze. Not with her subordinates watching as this girl so brazenly challenged her. "When?" Raven asked.

"When you're ready," Yang replied. "I'll find us a place."

Raven nodded. "Any place will do to mark your headstone."

Yang scoffed. "Not today."

Raven betrayed nothing to Amaranth and Debian, never once breaking her composure. She knew what they'd expect –what they'd _d_ emand _-_ Raven do to this outsider interfering. If she hesitated for a moment, if she dared give them reason to believe this weak girl's life might matter at all to her… "Twilight," Raven decided. "It'll be a fitting time to see a sun meet its end."

Yang nodded and headed away. Raven could hear the gears churning in Debian's head, no doubt already speculating on how to seize an opportunity while his wounded leader risked further injury.

Raven would have to be swift and merciless. She couldn't show weakness now, while her usurpers stood on either side. She couldn't simply leave Jaune to her, or death would find its way to them all anyway… and possibly find its way all across the remnant they called home.

Raven couldn't falter. There was too much at stake.

She'd tried to convince her daughter to abandon this life, to cut her losses and moved on. Instead, Yang did just as Raven would: fought for what she wanted, even against a seemingly insurmountable challenge.

And Raven had to kill her for it.


	6. Twilight

**Chapter Six: Twilight**

* * *

 _Raven's First Day as a Mother_

She looked a lot like Raven herself, save for those wider cheeks and that longer forehead. She'd taken _something_ from her father at least… something more than those little yellow barbs lining her head that would grow into thick blonde hair. Her eyes were an almost perfect blend of Raven's and Tai's, though a bit fainter, a bit more blue… a bit more like her Dad.

Raven couldn't bear to let her go. She wanted to do nothing but lie there and look at her, taking in every detail, listening to her tiny breaths and feeling her little heart beat against Raven's fingers. When Tai asked to hold her for a moment, Raven had missed the beautiful little girl, even though she'd been only a few inches away. When she held her again, Raven found contentment, a feeling of comfort… of _completion_ she'd never known she'd needed.

Resting with this little life pressed against her, Raven thought she needed nothing else but this life she'd found. Let the tribe find its own way, let Summer remain alone, let Qrow continue on in whatever fool's errand Ozpin assigned him… she had her child, and she couldn't imagine why she should ever devote herself to anything else but this beautiful little girl in her arms.

Then, sometime in the night she heard something… like a whistle in the wind.

She knew that sound. She knew what it tried to say, of terrible wonders that awaited, if only she'd let the darkness through its seal…

Then she felt scratches against the back of her head, clawing through her hair and trying to force themselves out her flesh. Raven ignored it, tried to focus on this point of light in her hands, tried to will the darkness away…

A gust of air. A portal opened beside her bed, and she saw them poke their arms, wings, and tendrils out…

Raven concentrated, tightening herself. She squeezed so hard she woke her beautiful child, who wailed at the intensity of her grip.

Raven had never heard anything so terrible as that little girl's cry.

And had no thought that had ever terrified her more than that little girl crying while monsters from the darkness reached out towards her.

* * *

 _Today- Late Morning_

Qrow was beside himself. "How… why…"

Ruby was a little more sympathetic, but still quite concerned. "Are you sure about this?"

Nora was all for it. "Hit her where she's wounded!"

Ren was much more subdued. "While I am concerned about your strategy, now appears the most opportune time to put it into practice."

"It'll _never_ be an opportune time, kid," Qrow argued. "Yang, please… I know her better than anyone; better even than your Dad. She's set her mind on something, and she won't stop until she gets it. You're in her way, and she'll break you if it's faster than going around you."

Ruby was quiet as she thought on her Uncle Qrow's words. She knew Raven had been on the team with their Dad at Beacon, but why would he know her any better than her twin brother would?

But her silence was deafening compared to the torpor Jaune was in, just listening to things playing out. He'd become a bit quieter and more subdued in general, but it was odd he offered no opinion.

Fortunately, Yang didn't seem bothered by it. "I've decided," she said simply. "Jaune stays with me –with _us-_ and she can just find another way to solve her problem. Maybe she just needs someone to knock some sense into her; maybe that's all she's _ever_ needed."

"Kid," Qrow began, massaging his temples. "You don't get it. She's made up her mind and you're in her way. It doesn't matter what gets put in front of her, it doesn't matter who they are or what ties she has to them: she knocks them down. She thinks she has to do something and she gets it done- that's just who she is."

Her Dad told her something similar when Yang was sparring with him. He tried to persuade her not to follow in the same example, but rather take from it the grit and persistence her mother possessed without emulating her brutal directness. Yang had something in mind to take advantage of that mindset, but there was no reason to reveal that just yet.

"We're not so different, then," Yang coolly replied. "Because I know what _I_ want, and _she's_ in the way of that. I told her she wasn't taking Jaune, and she isn't."

Qrow grit his teeth. "Yang," he spoke softly, trying to maintain some of his composure, " _You can't beat her_."

"I'm getting really sick of people telling me what I can't do," Yang told him. "You got anything important you want to add, or should I just let you rant for a while?"

"She'll _kill_ you!" Qrow finally snapped. "Don't you get it, firecracker?! If she thinks that's what it'll take, she'll do it!"

Yang had considered the possibility. She looked down at her right hand, and flexed her fingers back and forth as she thought on all that had led her here. Then she glanced back at Jaune, and thought of his hand never gripping hers' again.

"That's the life I chose," she reminded her uncle. "Every time we go outside the kingdom and fight the Grimm, that's what could happen. Every time we put on our combat gear, that's what could happen. Every time we decide to do something difficult instead of something safe and easy, that's what could happen. There are a lot of things in this world that'll kill us, Uncle Qrow. All I've ever needed to go out and fight them is something _worth fighting for_."

"And that's him?" Qrow demanded, jerking his head at Jaune.

"Him," Yang agreed. " _And me_."

Qrow continued to fume. Ruby, sensing danger, reached over to her sister and started slowly edging her out of the hotel room. "So, you need to scout out a place, right? Why don't you guys go find something?"

"I'm sure we can perform a suitable exploration of the terrain," Ren confirmed.

"Yeah, we'll find a place where you can put on a show!" Nora agreed.

Jaune didn't share their strange mixture of efficient logic and enthusiasm. He merely shuffled outside in silence, his teammates following after. Yang curiously watched Jaune's departure before turning her attention back to Qrow and Ruby. Her uncle calmed himself down a bit, leaning up against the headboard of his bed and maneuvering into a better sitting position. "He really must've done a number on you."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby snapped.

"Not like that," Qrow quickly amended. "I mean… he's affected you. More than I was expecting he would."

"You sound like Dad," Yang observed. "It doesn't suit you."

"Someone should," Qrow argued. "Because I've seen this before. And the last time didn't end well."

Yang's eyes abruptly narrowed at Qrow's implication. She didn't deign to reply, scoffing and leaving the room, leaving Qrow to Ruby's tender mercies instead. Once Yang was a good distance away Ruby began slapping at Qrow's shoulder, just hard enough for him to wince with each strike. "What is going on with you?" she inquired, much fiercer than Ruby would normally be capable of being to her beloved uncle.

"I'm just trying to figure out why she's acting like this," Qrow tried to explain. "I get that she likes the blonde kid, but does she really like him enough to risk her life for him? When did that happen? _How_ does that even happen?"

Ruby had the same thought, not that she let her uncle in on this fact. "You can't just be happy your niece found a nice guy to be with?"

"I can't be happy because my niece is being dumb and not listening to reason!" Qrow growled.

"I wonder where she gets that from," Ruby quietly uttered. Not so quietly it'd be missed.

Qrow glared at her. "And what happens if she goes through with it? What happens if Yang _does_ fight Raven and she comes up short?"

Ruby wanted to answer that challenge. She wanted to mention all that Yang was fighting for, of the importance of her deciding for herself, of her not letting them get pushed around by a criminal who happened to be a former huntress.

In truth, she just wanted to be supportive of her sister and wanted to keep Jaune out of Raven's clutches, even if her need for him was serious and tangible. She just wanted there to be some other way; she just wanted everyone to work together against _all_ the common threats and not have to waste time and energy fighting each other instead of their _real_ enemies.

But she'd grown enough in the past few months to know that wasn't how things worked. If they were, Ruby would still have Weiss and Blake as her teammates, Yang would still have her original arm, and Pyrrha-

No, that wasn't a thought Ruby wanted to dwell on. She didn't want to think about what could have _been_ , only what could _still be_. Maybe Yang was being foolish to challenge someone like Raven, but maybe a show of strength was what they needed to convince the bandit leader they could make some other arrangement.

Ruby worried for her sister. But she rationalized that in the lifestyle they'd chosen to lead, she _always would_. Yang knew what she was fighting for, and that was justification enough to let her proceed.

* * *

 _Mid-Day_

Yang and Team JN_R found their way out from the kingdom's walls, out into the surrounding hills, littered with trees and obscured by mists from the central waterfall of Mistral. Nora was constantly offering suggestion after suggestion based on elevated areas so Yang could attack from above and rapidly close distance and shower her enemy with shotgun pellets. Ren was offering advice on the terrain, down to minute details like soil composition in order to accurately measure how the ground would affect the pace of Yang's strides. Both were quite determined to help Yang in her goal of keeping Jaune with them, and each had something to contribute to her plan.

Jaune himself, however, had mostly just kept pace behind Yang. While she was glad to have his company, Yang was becoming increasingly troubled by his silence, and eventually she found an opportunity where both Ren and Nora were conspicuously busy (perhaps deliberately so) and she turned her eye to him. "You okay?"

"I'm just worried," Jaune answered. "I fought with her in the dark pathways; I know she's strong. Maybe not invincible -maybe not even as strong as she pretends to be- but she's very powerful, Yang. And the last time I knew a girl who ran off to challenge a powerful woman…"

Yang understood why he was concerned. The thought had clearly haunted him, given how he'd clung so desperately to a single recording of Pyrrha and continued to use her example for guidance. Yang might well have been jealous of the devotion Jaune still showed her, were she not very much aware of the hangups still following _her_ around: how she still needed to find Blake and bring her back, though Yang wasn't sure she wanted to ask Blake why she left, given how Raven had chosen to answer the same question.

And any feelings of jealousy were _also_ muted by Yang's memory of Ruby going through the same trauma; recalling Pyrrha's death and being haunted by it. Of all the things Yang regretted in her life, no memory stuck out more than being so depressed as being unable to answer her sister's declaration of love when Ruby had so badly needed the reassurance.

She tried to rationalize Jaune wasn't worried because of Pyrrha, he was just worried about _Yang_. He was worried about her because he cared about her, _not_ just because he'd been here before.

"What, you think I'm just gonna give up on you already?" Yang asked, only half-joking, quietly observing him for his reaction. "Don't get the wrong idea, Ladykiller- I'm just the possessive type, and I wasn't going to let her take you until I'm done with you."

It was harsher than she meant to be. She'd tried to make light of the situation while still gleaming Jaune's thoughts. She'd overplayed it a bit, and came across as too flippant in the face of a very serious, potentially life-or-death matter, and Jaune had too much experience in that area already.

"Yeah, I got that sense when you decided to do this without telling me," was Jaune's dry response.

"I thought you wanted me to," Yang argued, replying just a little too rapidly to completely disguise her doubts. "You said you wanted to stay with me and find out where things would go."

"And I meant it," Jaune assured her, alleviating _some_ of her doubts. "I want that. I also _don't_ want you going off to fight your mother if there's anything else we can do. She's desperate –she has to be if she's willing to marry me- and maybe we can convince her to work with us instead."

"You really think that?" Yang asked him.

"No," Jaune admitted. "I just… damn it, Yang, I don't want you to fight her. I don't want you to get hurt. I don't even want _Raven_ to get hurt. I really wish there was some way we could just work things out. I wish she could just be happy her daughter found someone and if she really wants my Aura so badly we could, I don't know, lend it out to her somehow and fight these monsters off until the threat's passed us by. I wish things were simple."

"They _are_ ," Yang replied. "You'll tell her just that: her daughter has you now, but nice guy that you are, you'll still help her with her problems. Once I beat her, right in front of her bandit buddies, she'll _have_ to accept the terms we give her."

"You really think you can beat her?" Jaune asked, very pointedly focusing his eyes on hers'.

Yang knew she didn't have time to think. She couldn't hesitate in making her proclamation. "I have something important to fight for." She reached down to take hold of his hand, her cold metal fingers feeling warm once again in his hand. "I _know_ I can beat her."

"And this is just for me?" Jaune asked her, squeezing her hand. "Not because of what she did to you?"

She'd had the same attitude when Adam Taurus had stood over Blake, his sword still freshly stained with her blood, and Yang rushed in to save her partner. She'd had the same thought when she faced Torchwick's lackey Neo, of avenging her loss of face and mitigating her own doubts, satisfying a thirst for revenge.

She'd learned a lesson after each defeat: not to rush in. Challenging her mother may have been reckless and impulsive, but Yang hadn't forgotten to check herself, to remember to have more than just a personal stake guiding her. She'd fought all her life for the thrill of it, and she'd always charged headlong into the fray because she'd never had reason to think the outcome of a battle was in doubt.

Tonight she was fighting for a great many reasons: for Jaune, for herself, and so her little circle of friends and family wouldn't have to make any concessions to a woman very much _not_ her family. Yang rationalized that much as she wanted to prove Raven wrong and show the bandit leader the value of the daughter she abandoned, that goal was secondary to fighting for the people she loved. How could she possibly lose when she was fighting for them?

"Not just for you," Yang answered. "For Ruby, for Ren, for Nora, for Qrow…" She hesitated only a moment, without really knowing why: "…for Pyrrha, for Blake, for Weiss, for everyone that matters to me. Raven Branwen _doesn't_ matter to me. If you believe in me, if you're important to me, that's who I'm fighting for. Now and always."

Jaune smiled at her. "Well, maybe next time you'll let me know _before_ you challenge a bandit leader so I can get a good seat to watch?"

"Maybe," Yang agreed, holding fast to his hand as Ren and Nora very pointedly avoided returning to report to her on the terrain, even though they'd long finished with their analysis. If they had any doubts about her and Jaune, Ren and Nora had been good about keeping the thoughts to themselves. They left Yang to stand beside her lover, to feel the spark that bound them together, and be reminded once more what she was fighting for.

* * *

 _Evening_

The place had been chosen, with Yang returning personally to deliver the message to Raven and her pair of associates. Upon hearing the news, Qrow insisted on accompanying Yang back to the battle site. Ruby of course protested, trying to convince him to stay in bed and complete his recovery and finish battling Tyrian's poison, but her uncle would not be deterred. He dragged himself out of bed and went to collect his sword and Ozpin's cane both, forcing himself to remain upright, even if he continued to sway, unsteady on his feet.

Eventually, however, Ruby relented and helped support her uncle at his shoulder, half-carrying him outside. Yang set him up on the backseat of her motorcycle Bumblebee, leaving him beside Ruby before turning her attention back to the inn and found Raven still in Yang's room, her large brute of an ally standing guard beside the door while her thin, wispy associate whispered something in Raven's ear.

Yang pulled out her Scroll and showed her mother a display of the topographical data. "This is the place," she pointed. "Do you have a Scroll or something I can send this to?"

"There's no need," Raven answered. "We know it well."

Yang wasn't surprised to hear that, though she'd have preferred to catch her mother off guard. "My friends are waiting for us there. They're eager to see how this plays out."

"As long as they're ready to give me Jaune Arc when I've finished with you," Raven passively replied. "I've already taken too much time in this matter; if my brother wants to haggle for a better price, he'd best decide the terms now."

"I think you know what he wants in return," Yang coolly assured. "Not that it'll matter."

"No," Raven agreed. "It won't."

Yang headed out. Debian leaned down to speak to Raven, whispering: "Your brother is wounded and the others are no threat. We should just take the boy and go."

"You will do nothing and let me handle this," Raven flatly instructed. "Jaune Arc will come with us of his own accord, and we'll give his loved ones a fair price for his head."

"And be their errand boys when they call for us," Amaranth grunted.

Raven shook her head. "You don't yet realize the gift Y- _that girl_ has given us." She hoped her error had gone unnoticed. She'd prefer her subordinates not realize that Raven recognized Yang by name, lest they look too closely and find the connection. "When Arc joins our tribe, we'll have to pay far less than our brother wants us to."

"And how –pray tell- will you manage that?" Debian inquired.

"I told you," Raven reminded him. "Let me handle it."

* * *

 _Twilight_

The sun fell below the horizon. Light still illuminated the area surrounding Mistral -still scattered in the cloudy layers above- but the mists from the kingdom's central waterfall became thick and obscured the field of battle, and the tall trees surrounding their clearing blocked out certain light sources, leaving the terrain full of scattered shadows, with long lines of black separating batches of bright dirt. The clearing was almost perfectly circular, with a single entrance from just off the dirt road, and a slight change in the elevation of the ground just slightly off its center, giving Yang the jumping-off point Nora had recommended.

Ruby, Nora, Ren, and Qrow waited just beside that dirt path entrance, Qrow propped up slightly against Yang's motorcycle. Jaune was waiting a few feet behind Yang as she stood near the center of the clearing, looking for Raven and her men to emerge from the treeline, even as the mists and shadows gradually became deeper, casting more of the battlefield into dimmer and dimmer light.

Eventually, however, Raven did emerge, walking slowly and deliberately as she exited the forest. Amaranth and Debian stood above her on supportive tree branches, watching the clearing with a bird's eye view. Yang took careful note of where each man was positioned before turning her attention squarely on Raven, transforming Ember Celica to a firing state, flexing the metal fingers in her right hand and preparing them to discharge.

Raven stopped walking about twenty feet from Yang, reaching to draw her great sword with her right hand. Yang took careful note of how she shifted her weight and slowly drew the blade; Raven may not have been holding her side, but the wound was clearly still bothering her.

Yang took one last moment to glance back at Jaune, flashing him a confident smile. Jaune returned it as best he could, but couldn't quite manage to conceal his worry. Yang rapidly turned around, raising her fists as she stared her mother down. "Ready?"

Raven's only reply was to pull on her mask and level her sword forth.

Yang took that for assent and reared back with her right hand, testing her jab. She fired off the first round from Ember Celica straight at Raven, testing to see her opponent's response. Raven waved her sword and cut the projectile in two, barely moving, barely investing the slightest effort.

Yang hoped that was a deliberate choice, that Raven was investing as little effort as possible to compensate for her wounds. Her strategy depended on it.

Yang started to move to her right, strafing around and firing several more times at Raven's wounded left side. Raven was forced to respond now, actually changing her position and cutting each projectile down. At range, the pellets wouldn't impact her with any force, but forcing Raven to exert the effort was revealing where she'd be slowest, and Raven's efforts to guard her weak point allowed Yang to observe the range of motion her armor pauldrons would allow, and where to focus her shot.

Yang finally started to close the distance, continuing to unload pellet shot. She took careful count of how many, anticipating she'd be vulnerable when she reloaded… and that Raven would attack opportunistically like the bandit she was. Raven cut away the shots again and again, swinging faster, and Yang kept her focus on Raven's wounded side. She didn't want to reveal her trick just yet.

Raven finally started to move herself, though slowly and gradually as she drew nearer to her daughter. Yang was reeling her in, and now she had to put her primary strategy into motion. She fired off shot after shot, seemingly with abandon, all the while counting down the bullets until her stock was nearly exhausted.

 _Nearly_ exhausted.

Yang opened each bracer to discharge from Ember Celica, releasing spent shells. Using a vibration function in her right hand, she kept a single, _unspent_ round in place. Unless Raven had made the same effort to count Yang's shots, she wouldn't notice the discrepancy; only a crowd of red shells launched outwards and landing in the dirt as Yang reached into her coat for a new string of rounds. She stepped closer to the center of the clearing, towards the slight change in elevation that would position her for the final strike.

Raven moved in, blade at the ready as she aimed to take advantage of Yang's vulnerability. Yang tossed the shells upwards above her head and closed her right bracer, leveling her hand forward, using the same vibration function to accelerate the velocity of her pellet round as she aimed at the dirt right in front of Raven, firing the pellet right in her mother's path. The devastating attack sprayed dirt up into Raven's face, splattering over her mask and armor and even her sword.

Raven stopped and tried to gain her bearings, reaching her free hand up to wipe the dirt from the thin slits in her mask. Yang moved backwards, catching the errant bullet strings and reloading her left bracer, knowing that she'd only have time to counterattack with one arm.

Yang measured her step, moving up to the higher ground. It was barely two inches of elevation, but it gave her the springboard she needed. Yang fired behind her with her left arm, giving her a slight boost upwards from the shot, adding another two feet of air for her to work with.

Yang struck with her right hand to the hilt of Raven's sword, using her own weight and momentum to push the tip of her blade down into the dirt. The strategy done, Yang switched tactics, unloading pellets at close range into Raven's midsection and wounded side, striking again and again with her left hand while her right kept her enemy's weapon pinned.

She heard Raven grunt in pain, but the real trigger she was looking for arrived as Raven's Aura washed over her body, eventually disrupted by the sheer force of impacts in rapid succession. Once the barrier had been removed, Yang aimed for Raven's wounds and punched with all her strength, and she saw the blood splatter backwards as Raven received a terrible hit, and at last Yang heard her mother howl in pain, reverberating under her Grimm mask.

Yang finally released her grip on Raven's sword and struck Raven in her midsection with her right hand, flinging her back and driving her into the dirt. Before Raven had even landed Yang set to reloading each gauntlet, even if she hadn't burned through the entire clip in her left.

"Give up," Yang instructed her. "You're hurt, and if this keeps going, it'll only get worse."

It was partially true. Yang had used her big surprise attack already and didn't have anything comparable left to use –save her Semblance- but she'd achieved the desired result and given Raven an even worse wound and showed her just how dangerous her daughter could be. It may have been cathartic to dole out this savagery, but Yang sincerely hoped Raven would heed her advice and turn back.

Raven, however…

Raven rolled over onto her stomach and forced herself up, even as blood continued to dribble down her hip, turning her black cloth as red as her armor. Once successfully reoriented, Raven turned to face Yang again, her sword once more at the ready.

Raven was slowly rebuilding her Aura, reestablishing her defense. Yang hoped the blood loss might level things out a bit there, but Raven seemed undeterred. That mask betrayed no fear or pain, and though her breathing was ragged, she wasn't offering Yang any terms of surrender. She intended to continue the fight.

Yang moved in and began to fire the shotgun pellets at close range, aiming all across Raven's body. Either Raven would exhaust herself deflecting each shot or the collective impacts across her body's frame would drive her back. Raven was already bleeding, all Yang needed to do now was wear her out.

But Raven didn't respond to the onslaught of projectiles. Raven slashed to her right, darted in the same direction… and vanished inside a portal of red and black.

Yang quickly glanced around for where Raven had fled to, only for a second portal to open at her back and Raven to emerge rapidly from within. Yang fired from each gauntlet of Ember Celica to the ground, launching herself skyward and narrowly avoiding a slash from Raven's sword when she leapt out.

"I underestimated you," Raven quietly admitted. "I didn't think I'd have to resort to this."

Raven cut at multiple sections of the air around Yang. As Yang slowly began to descend, pulled back by gravity, she watched more and more portals encircling her… and then Raven emerged from one at her left, finally landing a slash on Yang's flank, knocking off a huge chunk of her Aura. Raven darted past Yang into another portal, emerging from yet another above Yang's head, moving straight down and slashing her again, disrupting Yang's Aura further by slashing at the exact same point, actually managing to nick Yang's upper arm before her Aura could completely rebuild itself. Raven zipped around like Weiss using her glyphs, moving through one gateway after another, always aiming for the same location and leaving one cut after another on Yang's arm.

Yang fired Ember Celica again to move out of the trap Raven had set, crashing hard on her back into the dirt, but out of the path of Raven's blade. Raven pursued her with stunning speed –blood trailing behind her- but Yang managed to roll backwards and right herself before Raven could cleave her while she'd been prone on the ground.

Her mother wasn't pulling any punches: Raven was actively trying to –at the very least- seriously wound Yang. Yang's Aura was already drastically reduced, and she needed to counteract.

Yang offered Raven mercy after taking the time to humble her. It was time to abandon that tactic.

Yang's eyes burned over red as she called upon her Semblance, letting her anger fuel her with a renewed sense of energy. Yang felt herself revitalized and rejuvenated by an infusion of energy, but knew she had to use it quickly, because no matter how strong the roaring fire was, it'd burn out very quickly.

Yang picked her spot, savagely attacking Raven with punch after punch, each impact hardened by a direct extension of her Aura encircling her fist and the release of shotgun pellets into Raven's frame. Yang struck with a fury, watching as Raven's Aura flickered and then aiming for her wounded side to give the fight a quick, definitive ending.

Exactly as Raven predicted. Yang had gone to the well once too often, and her attack had become very angular… and easier to counter.

Raven slashed the ground before her, kicking up dirt in Yang's path. Combined with the sudden movement of her hands to shield herself and the muzzle flash of her shotgun rounds, Raven saw her opportunity and slashed straight upwards, cutting through Yang's directed Aura, bisecting her protective barrier.

And then Raven drove her blade right into Yang's midsection. Her blade popped straight out through Yang's back.

Yang gasped in shock as she glanced down at the sword poking through her. Raven reached up with her less-steady left leg and pushed against Yang's stomach, shoving her down into the dirt with her exposed, gaping wound.

Yang reached down to hold her stomach with her left hand, looking down at the blood lining her fingertips. Raven stood over her, flicking Yang's blood off the surface of her sword and slowly drawing closer. Yang tried to raise her right hand to fire at point blank, but Raven stomped down on her wrist with her left foot, keeping Yang's arm pinned beneath her heel.

Near the entrance to the clearing, Qrow shouted: "Raven, stop!" He took hold of the nearby Ruby before she could try to intervene, summoning his strength to keep at least _one_ of his nieces out of harm's way.

Nora had no such impediment, however, readying Magnhild and dashing into the fray, Ren a single step behind her. Raven's subordinate Amaranth moved with surprising speed from the tree line, descending from above and unstrapping his axe from his back, striking the dirt before Nora and Ren, the shockwave of his impact sending them both flying back.

Jaune reached to draw his sword, only for Raven's other bandit ally, the wispy Debian, to seemingly emerge from nowhere and stand over Ren and Nora with his dagger drawn, pointedly shaking his head at the blonde knight.

Yang glared up at Raven, eyes still blazing red. As blood dribbled down her chin, she tried to bury any fear she had and keep up a defiant front. She tried to taunt her mother, to egg her on and dare her to finish her attack, only for no words to leave her mouth. She continued to glare up at Raven, her mask unreadable.

Ruby continued to struggle in Qrow's grip, but he would not let her join the fray. Jaune glanced at Debian, releasing his grip on the hilt of Crocea Mors before stepping slowly closer to the center of the clearing.

Raven moved her blade to Yang's neck, cutting a tiny nick on the bottom of her chin. She seemed merciless as she drew nearer, offering even her own daughter no quarter.

She'd said sentiment was what had led her to intercede and save Yang's life at Mountain Glenn. If she hadn't done so, they'd never have fought this battle today. If Yang had simply died then, Raven would have never suffered these wounds and shown her vulnerabilities in front of less-than-trustworthy underlings.

Sentiment had made her save Yang once before. But now… defeated in single combat… there was only one fate for Yang her captains would accept. Anything else they witnessed they'd gleefully spread around, undermining Raven further.

The survival of their tribe was at stake. Sentiment had been nothing but an excuse to behave selfishly, and compassion now would be construed as weakness by her captains. She had to carry this task through. Compassion was for those who didn't have the burdens she did.

Compassion was for people like _him_.

"Stop."

Exactly as Raven hoped, and not a moment too soon.

"Jaune…" Yang breathed from the ground. Raven glanced over at him as he approached, unarmed, his palms facing Raven in supplication.

"Please stop," Jaune begged. "Please let her live."

"Why, Jaune Arc?" Raven asked him, not removing her blade from Yang's neck. She couldn't break the façade just yet.

"I'll do what you want,"Jaune answered. "I'll marry you. I'll go with you and fight the monsters threatening you. I'll bind our Aura together. I'll do whatever you need me to do if you'll _just let her live_."

"No!" Yang called from the dirt, still struggling to free her arm from under Raven's heel. Raven's response was to press her blade a little closer to Yang's neck.

"She challenged my strength," Raven reminded him. "Letting her survive my blade is more than just a request for mercy, but an _insult_ to my rule. Her life is a high price."

Jaune dropped to his knees, placing his hands in the dirt and bowing his head low. "Her life for mine. Please."

He prostrated himself just as Raven had before him. Exactly as Raven hoped, he submitted to her, and came just in time to save her daughter's life. The only downside was she'd been forced to rely on her Semblance to finish the battle, and may have alerted more of the dark denizens to her wounds and her location, but that would soon be mitigated... if not finally dealt with for good.

Raven removed her blade from Yang's neck and slashed at either of her gauntlets, cutting off each bracer from her wrist so Yang couldn't fire at her any further. Raven stepped over her daughter's body and stood over Jaune. She gestured with her left hand for him to rise, and then extended her arm towards him.

"It's your turn to say it," Raven told him. "Speak the words, and seal the pact… and I will honor your wish."

Jaune was slow to rise, glancing around the clearing. Ruby was frantically shaking her head from her uncle's tight grip, Nora was trying to shout something to him before the wispy Debian moved in closer with his dagger. He looked up at Raven's arm, knowing what he would have to do.

Jaune wasn't sure what he'd rather look at: his friends trying to wave him off, or Raven waiting for him to take her arm. Jaune steeled himself as he looked straight ahead at his bride-to-be, taking hold of his wrist and drawing upon his Aura, thinking back on his time in the Emerald Forest, when Pyrrha embraced him and began the chant.

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality."_

He thought on Pyrrha's green eyes. They were a better memory than this Grimm mask staring him down.

" _Through this we become a paragon of glory and virtue to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death."_

The dark red of Raven's Aura found the yellow tint of Jaune's, mingling there at their joined arms, then flowing back into one another, with the yellow of Jaune's light moving down to Raven's side, the breadth of his pool of Aura patching up her gaping, bloody wound.

" _I release your soul…"_

Jaune took one last look at Yang as she struggled to lift herself out of the dirt, her eyes turning from fury to sorrow as she watched him speak the vow.

"… _and by my shoulder, protect thee."_ Jaune finished, turning his attention back to Raven as she drew more of his Aura into her, healing all the damage done by Yang and the monsters of another dimension. He continued to hold Raven's wrist, waiting for her to relax her grip.

"Say your goodbyes," Raven instructed, releasing her hold on his wrist. "We're going home."

Jaune lowered his head as he glanced back at his friends. Debian drew away from Ren and Nora, and they both immediately raced over to him. Ruby dashed to Yang's side, trying desperately to help her wounded sister as Qrow staggered after her.

"Jaune-" Ren began, but was quickly cut off by his furious orange-haired compatriot. "Jaune, why did you do that?!"

"Listen," Jaune interjected. "You have to keep helping Ruby, okay? You have to stop Salem. She needs you, and you have to keep fighting."

"If you think for one second I'm letting you leave with that woman-" Nora began, but again Jaune interceded.

"I made a promise, Nora," Jaune reminded her. "Raven gets me, Yang gets to live. And I'll make another promise: I'll help her stop these things on the other side and never let them threaten you. All you two need to do is keep each other safe, just like you always have. You don't need to protect me anymore; just let me protect something now."

Nora was struggling to find words to keep arguing, tears forcing their way out even from her. "Jaune…"

Jaune pulled her into a tight hug. Nora seemed willing to protest further, but relented, embracing Jaune in turn. Ren reached over to take hold of Jaune's shoulder, firmly nodding.

"If you see my family, tell them where I ended up," Jaune requested. "And then tell them you're my first brother and eighth sister, and that I love both of you very much."

Jaune released his grip on Nora, her hands still firmly wrapped around his back. She squeezed him tight and then released him, turning her eyes towards Raven, furiously glaring at the bandit leader who took one of her dearest friends away.

Jaune turned his attention to Yang and Ruby, the younger sister slowly helping the elder into a sitting position on the elevated ground. Yang glared up at him. "You shouldn't have done that. You idiot… you…"

Jaune knelt down beside her. He reached over and took hold of her right hand, squeezing her fingers tight.

"You…" Yang said again, struggling to insult him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to compose her thoughts, Jaune waiting patiently before her.

"It's not fair," Yang whimpered. "I just got back, I just found out how much you mattered to me… why? Why does it have to be like this?"

Jaune squeezed her hand tight, leaning in close and pressing his forehead against hers, indifferent to the sweat and messy blonde strands brushing against him. Yang continued her soft whimper, squeezing Jaune's hand tight.

"No matter what, I'm glad we found each other again," Jaune told her. "I'm glad… I'm glad it was you."

He slowly pulled his hand away, and Yang clamped down with her fingers. "No, please don't. Jaune, don't go-"

She could feel the spark growing fainter. She felt her fingers becoming colder already…

Jaune turned his attention to Ruby. "Take care of her. And whatever happens next, Ruby… you never needed me. You'd have saved the world and kicked the bad guy's butts whether I was there or not."

Ruby was tearing up too, but she wouldn't allow herself to break down. "I'll let them know they were lucky you weren't there to fight too."

Jaune extended his free arm and Ruby hugged him too, Yang, Ruby, and Jaune each supporting each other with either arm. They held the embrace for several moments as Jaune finally rose up, whispering to himself as Yang's fingers slid from his grip.

Jaune turned and stepped towards Raven, Amaranth and Debian on either side of her. Raven turned her attention to Qrow as he stopped a few feet behind his nieces, glaring across the clearing at her.

He'd lost his opportunity to gain her tribe's alliance or find the Spring Maiden, and his only consolation prize was Yang's life. No doubt at the moment that was his priority, but Qrow knew what this meant: he'd lost far more than he'd gained, and had nothing to offer Raven now.

"A life for a life," Amaranth observed. "A fair trade."

"Oh no," Debian argued. "One weak little girl for our tribe's salvation? I'd call that a bargain."

Raven hoped this would curtail their coup attempts, as they'd seen her deftly maneuver them into a stronger position. It had been a very close, very carefully timed sequence of events, but things had worked out as intended.

"Come," Raven instructed Jaune, who meekly nodded as he followed after them to the tree line, already nearly swallowed up by heavy mists and shadows as the last of the daylight withered away.

"Your daughter, Raven." Qrow snarled at her back. Amaranth and Debian froze in their tracks as Raven cursed under her breath. "Your own daughter!"

Raven kept her composure. "She is nothing to me now," Raven assured her brother. "My family stands beside me. The girl bleeding on the ground is just another that dared to stand in my way."

She continued her walk, not allowing her subordinates or her new husband to see her break her stride. No doubt they were already scheming on how they might use this piece of information, but for the moment at least, they fell in line behind their leader. Jaune cast one last glance back at Yang, still reaching towards him with her right hand before he followed after Raven and disappeared in the mist.

Nora broke down, Ren quickly moving to comfort her. Qrow pounded his fist against his leg. "Damn it."

Ruby, still at Yang's side, turned to look up at her uncle. "Uncle Qrow…"

Qrow met her gaze. He saw the confused look in her eye, and it slowly dawned on him that the bandits weren't the only ones who'd just learned something.

"Why did you call Yang her daughter?" Ruby finally asked, her voice shaky and trembling.

Yang herself tried to close her hand, feeling nothing in her grasp. She looked down at her metal fingers, squeezing her hand shut as she tried to find a spark before the feeling left her forever.

Yang slumped backwards against Ruby as her eyes drifted shut. Ruby immediately turned her attention to Yang, shouting for her to wake as the last of the refracted light vanished, leaving them in blackness, the sun fading completely and giving way to the night.

* * *

 _Raven's Last Day as a Mother_

It was a terrible thing to do.

It was the only thing to do.

Raven reached into the bedroom closet and found her armor piled on the floor. She'd promised Tai she'd leave it off for a full week and take it easy, but she hadn't even made it three days now. Raven hoped that returning from the hospital and settling in at Patch would make things easier for her, but the incursions continued to happen. When Raven had tried to sleep in her and Tai's bed with Yang on her stomach, one of the beasts had actually poked its arm through and reached its claws towards her baby. After a second sleepless night, Raven felt the claws scratching all the fiercer and the voices whispering more and more.

Giving birth had left her imbalanced, unable to control her connection to the dark pathways. Now Yang was in constant danger, and the instant Raven relaxed her guard the denizens of the dark would try and force their way through and snatch her child away.

Raven slipped on her gauntlets and strapped her scabbard to her waist. She hoped that maybe putting up a front would encourage them to retreat, to understand they'd overextended and she now meant to fight back. Instead they were emboldened further, and continued to scratch at the weak points, trying to force their way in.

Raven used to mock Qrow for being unable to control his Semblance. She hadn't had such fear of the darkness between dimensions since she was a child and her power had first manifested. Now she was that same frightened little girl, just with another little girl whose life depended on Raven to act.

She mastered this connection once before and would again. But right now her power endangered Yang, and Raven's fears for her daughter's safety only encouraged the monsters to push harder, knowing how close at hand their freedom was.

Raven looked down at Yang in a bassinet beside her bed. She hungrily took in every detail, of how her blonde hair curved up like Raven's, of how her cheeks and forehead were wide like Tai's, of how fair her skin was… she wanted to recall every detail of this moment.

Because it was the last she'd share with her daughter.

Raven wished she could speak to Tai before she left, to let him know why she had to go. He'd seen her make journeys into the dark before, he knew the responsibility she bore. But Raven couldn't stop looking at Yang, because she'd never be able to look at her enough.

Raven hoped she'd have an easier life. She hoped Yang would be happy and someone would be there to love her in Raven's stead, but if no one could take up that role, Raven took solace in knowing that if nothing else, her daughter would live.

A portal forced its way open at her back. Claws reached through the darkness into the remnant apart, trying to find a way out through the tiny hole in their prison. The time had come.

Raven leaned down to run a finger over her daughter's forehead, to feel her burning skin for just another moment.

She reached over to pick up her sword, placing it in its sheath as she turned to face the entrance to the dark pathways.

Raven pulled on her mask and stepped in, preparing to resume her endless battle.


	7. Say Something

**Chapter Seven: Say Something**

* * *

Ruby had been very reluctant to leave Yang's side, but eventually Ren managed to convince her she was the only one who could return to the inn and bring back medical supplies quickly enough to help. Ren and Nora would keep Yang safe, and while Qrow hadn't yet made it back to top form he was at least healthy enough to stay on his feet. Ruby would have to move quickly so they could get Yang patched up enough to travel out of the forest and back inside the kingdom walls before their various negative emotions at Yang's injury and Jaune's departure brought the Grimm down on their already vulnerable position.

Ruby didn't want to leave Yang for even a moment while she bled, but once she'd made it back to the inn and collected the bandages, salves, a portable stretcher, and everything else she could stuff in her arms, she was able to take some solace in doing something to help her sister with her wound. The minutes spent getting back through the kingdom's walls and to the inn were maddening, because every moment she spent without wind rushing past her ears she could do nothing but dwell on the thoughts consuming her now.

Raven Branwen… she nearly killed Yang… nearly killed _her own daughter_ …

Which meant Summer Rose hadn't been-

Which meant she and Yang weren't-

No, that wasn't important right now. Getting Yang to safety had to be her only thought. What were her own doubts and confusion when her sister's life was at stake? What did it matter what complex history they may have had and their parents may have kept from them?

What did it matter if Yang was her _half-_ sister? It shouldn't have changed how she felt or lessened the very real love they shared.

But it was. Doubt was creeping into her thoughts now, and much as she tried to drown out the thoughts, they kept reaching out to her every moment she wasn't in motion. She really wished she could've just stayed beside Yang and sent someone else, if only so she didn't have to think about what this revelation meant.

It shouldn't have meant anything at all. She wouldn't be running any faster if she hadn't heard the truth about Yang's parentage.

So why did the thought hurt?

When she finally returned to the clearing, Ren set to work applying the salves to Yang's wounds while Nora kept Yang's head elevated. Once certain her sister wasn't in _immediate_ danger of dying, Ruby turned her attention to her Uncle Qrow, still searching the tree line for any attackers- Grimm or bandit or monster from another dimension.

The emotions Ruby was feeling now would draw the Grimm to them. But she couldn't quite manage to suppress them. Her sister was badly wounded and that was Ruby's immediate priority, but the thought that Yang had kept this secret from her… that she'd known all along and been willing to fight against her mother, maybe even known that mother might try to kill her…

And then there was what her uncle knew, and what her Dad knew, and how exactly her Dad had ended up marrying –had he even been married to Raven?- two of his teammates and fathering daughters with both, and… and Ruby _really_ didn't want to think about any of that, but it was hard for her not to.

Qrow eventually looked away from the trees and turned his attention to his silver-eyed niece. He was slow to respond to her presence, before eventually steeling himself and stepping over to greet her, still unsteady in his slow stagger. He waited expectantly for her, knowing where her head was at, knowing what she wanted so badly to ask him. He just made a point of waiting for her to ask.

Words never managed to leave Ruby's mouth. She tried a few times, but all she managed were a few timid whimpers. Qrow moved over towards her, reaching out with a gentle hand, but Ruby pushed him away.

"Not… not right now, okay?" Ruby requested. "I… I really want… just… please… please don't ask me to trust you right now."

Qrow's hand slowly fell away, batting against his thigh when it finally returned to his side. "Yeah, kid. Okay."

Ren finished applying bandages to the wound poking out Yang's back and went with Nora to place the blonde bruiser on a stretcher. Ruby moved over to join them as they gingerly hoisted Yang up. Qrow turned his attention to Yang's motorcycle, pushing it along after them, using it as support to help stay on his feet as he brought up the rear. Ruby took hold of Yang's left hand, searching for a response.

"You should probably just let her rest," Ren politely suggested from behind her. "Let her sleep through the pain, at least until we get back."

Ruby agreed with the suggestion, but could not be persuaded to let go of her sister's hand. Worrying about Yang's health kept her thoughts away from the startling revelation of Yang's parentage, and holding onto her helped Ruby not worry _quite_ as much.

It had been a mistake to ever let go of that hug Ruby gave her when she finally saw her big sister return. Things would've turned out so much better if Ruby had held on just a while longer…

* * *

 _Kuroyuri_

Jaune was surprised how quickly they made it back to the abandoned town. The big bandit Amaranth had hoisted him up and carried him for part of the trip, and the bandits moved through the woods with stunning speed. Even Raven kept up an incredibly fast pace, possibly because of all the Aura she'd drawn out from Jaune.

The town was still a dilapidated ruin, but there were signs of life: fires burning in the distance and casting smoke into the sky- not so different from the residue left from the giant Grimm he'd battled there days beforehand- and as he drew nearer he saw a handful of tents and new tarps placed over some of the more intact buildings. A wooden barricade had been propped up over the circular entrance to the town, manned by a pair of individuals: one in familiar Atlesian blue military armor, the other in the brown and red uniform of the soldiers from Mistral.

Jaune glanced around and saw a variety of getups in the people inside Kuroyuri's protective walls. Some wore a similar configuration of red armor and black underclothing like Raven and her two captains, but they were few. A great many more wore the green of Vale, the blue of Atlas…

"Why is everyone dressed so differently?" Jaune inquired, his curiosity getting the better of him. Amaranth glanced over at Raven, waiting for her instruction.

When she nodded, the hulking captain answered: "They haven't finished their initiation. They wear the colors of their old kingdoms to remind them where they came from, and what they've turned their backs on. It reminds each of them that they are a traitor, and that they have nowhere else to go now."

Jaune looked at the few wearing red and black, clearly in charge as they directed the bevy of others in setting up their various living quarters and manning the walls of the kingdom. They didn't seem to be complex orders, as the more senior 'initiated' members of the bandit tribe barely spared any time on the new recruits.

Once inside the ruins, Amaranth set Jaune down to walk on his own two feet. As he drew nearer he saw a handful of children, though all of them at least a few years old and walking around unaided. There were many women, both in the tribe's red and black and their kingdom's old colors, but none cradling any babies or assisting any toddlers. "Why are there so few children?" he asked.

"Our chief's order," Debian explained. "Part of any emergency retreat is to use her Semblance and escape through the dark pathways. Our tribe has become too large; we've already lost a few trying to make that trip, and now the chief alone walks that path. It's made travel… difficult."

"But not for much longer," Raven reminded him, looking determinedly ahead. "As we're about to announce."

When the others took notice of Raven's arrival, those clad in red and black gestured to the uninitiated members of their tribe. They were slow and clumsy in response, but the various members of former kingdoms all dropped to kneel (even those standing on the walls and manning the barricade) and bowed their heads low. Once all the newer recruits had done the same, the more senior bandits followed suit, dropping to a bent knee. When Raven stopped walking and found a place to address them in the open, Debian and Amaranth did the same, Amaranth harshly pushing Jaune down to his knees, pushing the back of his blonde head.

"I know you're not happy to be here," Raven addressed them, "but I've found what I was seeking, and the time is drawing close." She snapped her fingers in her left hand. Amaranth rose up, pulling Jaune along with him, scraping his knees along the uneven ground and dropping him to kneel at Raven's side. "I have found us the light that will burn through the darkness and make me mistress of the pathways again."

Those kneeling before her couldn't help but look up in curiosity. Jaune glanced out at the crowd of bandits, and saw curiosity at best and confusion and outright contempt at worst. Not that their reactions surprised him… it hadn't been so long ago that people looked down on him just for pretending he was good enough to go to a huntsman academy. No doubt they were skeptical about how Jaune would help them defeat a bunch of extradimensional horrors when he was being tossed around by a single criminal.

"The time is short and the task will be difficult," Raven admitted. "But we _will_ regain control over the pathways and reclaim our advantage. This I promise you: our tribe is stronger tonight than it has ever been, and tomorrow we will be stronger still, and the next day stronger than that. Our moment is very near, and I will lead you to greater prizes than ever before."

The bandits raised their left arms and pressed them to their chests, before bowing their heads even lower. Save for the small children, everyone repeated this motion of supplication before Raven.

"Complete your tasks and then settle in," Raven instructed. "I want a foraging party ready for first light; we're going to remain here a while longer."

Once Raven started to walk again the various bandits rose up and resumed their tasks. Amaranth hoisted Jaune up by the back of his hoodie and prodded him along to follow after Raven. Raven headed for one of the larger and more ornate looking tents, where a seasoned bandit woman clad in red and black waited, stepping aside and holding open the flaps to allow her leader entry. Amaranth continued to push Jaune ahead, barely having a moment to see inside before he was thrown in after Raven.

Jaune stumbled but managed to stay on his feet as he glanced around. Though the floor was still the uneven mix of rock and pavement of Kuroyuri, atop it was some impressive furniture, including a large, comfortable-looking canopy bed, a four legged wooden table with a few wooden seats positioned around it and some food provisions placed at the table center. Raven removed her mask and began disrobing of her armor, piling it on one of the wooden chairs.

When she turned to look at Jaune her eyes were full and open, no longer squinting when she spoke to him. "That went better than I thought. No one was bold enough to voice their objections."

"Maybe they were afraid of what you'd do if they stepped out of line," Jaune dryly suggested.

Raven either missed or ignored his subtle remark. "As they should be." She glanced past Jaune to the flaps of her tent, listening for Amaranth and Debian to leave before she continued. "Every day is a struggle to survive, and those who would undermine me make that struggle more difficult." She set her sword down beside her bed and then turned her attention back to Jaune. "Will you seek to undermine me, Jaune Arc?"

Jaune shook his head. "You did what I asked, and I gave you my word. An Arc never goes back on his word."

"Good," Raven nodded, before she started removing her black garments as well. Jaune's eyes widened as he froze in place. Raven took note of his reaction and focused her red eyes on his blue ones. "Were you not expecting this to happen?"

"I… uh…" was all Jaune could manage.

Raven stepped towards him, keeping her gaze fixed on him. "This isn't the life either of us imagined. But you will not hate this as much as you think you will."

Raven finished disrobing and walked over to lay in her bed. Jaune was still frozen in place as he tried to process all she'd said and done.

She had said she wanted him to help conceive a child. Jaune had briefly wondered about such a possibility when he and Yang shared a moment like this, but always with dread at the prospect. He knew that was always a possible result, but it hadn't been a high priority in his mind at the time. When alone with Yang he hadn't done very much thinking.

Alone with Raven, _all_ he could do was think. She was a beautiful woman who closely resembled another beautiful woman Jaune had already been with, but that didn't make the task any easier for him. He could still see a few drops of Yang's blood splattered against the sheath of Raven's sword. Her armor still smelt of her fresh wounds, and the scars Yang had left in her side were very apparent against Raven's fair skin.

He tried to rationalize that it would help in some way, that his actions would fend off dangerous creatures that threatened Remnant and his friends. He tried to conclude that doing this had been necessary to save Yang's life, and that he'd never have climbed into her mother's bed for any other reason.

Some part of him -something primal and atavistic-tried to compel him on, but Jaune couldn't simply give himself over to that thought as he had with Yang. With Yang, the guilt he felt was for a woman Yang had never wronged. With Raven… it seemed all she'd ever done was wrong Yang.

"Come to bed," Raven bid.

Jaune tried to think of how much Raven resembled her daughter; resembled his lover. Tried to envision it was her calling to him.

Neither thought helped.

But Jaune did as he was bid and began to disrobe himself, closing his eyes as he lay down beside her. Raven reached an arm over to his chest, leaning close and taking in the dimensions of his body.

He wasn't so different from another man she'd once loved, a chiseled, blue-eyed blonde with a similar nature. Though the fact he still smelled very much like the daughter she'd once shared with that man made the task difficult for her. He'd never be strong enough to initiate this. He might eventually be a willing participant, but for now Raven had to do the work.

Raven took hold of his wrist and drew his Aura into her. The light was so abundant in him she could keep it flowing and energize herself. _That_ at least she enjoyed. For that, she wished to dip her cup in and never stop.

Raven took the initiative and moved her face over his own to kiss him, to taste the man she'd claimed as her husband. He did not respond, but she anticipated that… he would in time, and serve a purpose for her. Eventually, he would not hate the role fate had handed him, and if he was as good a man as he seemed to be, then he might find some happiness in tending to their children… even if Raven would have to mitigate some of that kindness to ensure they grew to be strong.

She guided his motions, and in time, the light gave way to the dark.

* * *

 _Mistral_

Once back at the inn, Ruby remained with Yang in the room she'd rented. Ren promised to remain awake and come running if she needed any medical assistance, before returning to the room he'd shared with Nora (and previously with Jaune) to rest as best he could without ever finding sleep.

Nora had been seated on the second bed in their room, looking quite downcast. Ren hoped Ruby would have no need of him, because it seemed someone else was as much in need of healing.

"He never slept in either of these beds," Nora remarked. "Do you remember how he insisted on sleeping on the floor so you and I could recuperate after Kuroyuri? Do you remember how he'd just sit here with his back against the frame and work with nothing but that?"

Ren wanted to remind her of the rest Jaune found in Yang's bed, but thought better of it. "I remember."

"Or when we were in the Vale Safe Zone, how he gave us his rations because we were still wounded?" Nora continued. "Or how he promised he'd stay with us, even when he could've gone back home to his family at any time?"

"I remember," Ren said again. He sat down beside her on the bed. "I'll never forget the moment he called me his brother."

"And we just let that woman take him," Nora bitterly mused. "How? _How_?"

"If we hadn't, she'd gave killed Yang," Ren reminded her. "Jaune did what he had to, and we obeyed our leader's last order."

"It doesn't _have_ to be his last order," Nora argued. "We could track them, find our way to them before Raven pulls her portal trick, find a way to sneak Jaune out…"

"And do you really believe Jaune would allow us to take him?" Ren asked her. "When he already gave his word to Raven that he'd do what she asked? Even if we _could_ reach him, even if we _could_ find a way to bring him out, can you _ever_ envision a scenario where Jaune would break his word?"

Nora was silent for a long time, before moving over to tightly ensnare Ren between her arms. Ren was quite used to spontaneous Nora hugs by now, and took it in stride. He reached over to pull her in tighter, letting her press against him.

"I already lost one teammate," Nora said, almost too quietly for Ren to pick up. "I don't know how to lose another one. I told Jaune –I told him the day Yang came back- that I'd never let him be alone again and I wouldn't let anyone take him away. What good am I if I can't keep my word the way he can?"

"You've never broken a promise made to me," Ren reminded her. "But sometimes there are things we can't stop –things we can't _change_ \- and it is all we can do to go on in spite of them. We learned how to keep going without Pyrrha, no matter how hard it may have been to do so. We have to honor Jaune's wish and go on without him, because Ruby will need our help. So long as we have our duty, so long as there's still someone who _needs_ us, we can still be of use." He held her a little tighter. "And _you_ can still be good."

Nora pressed her head to Ren's shoulder. "I miss him. Right now, already. I miss him the way I miss you when you're not around."

Ren cradled her head. "I know."

* * *

Yang woke with a start, clenching her right hand. "Jaune-!"

There was a wooden roof over her head, rather than a misty tree line. There was a comfortable mattress beneath her, not bloodstained dirt. There was a blanket over her body, and not her mother towering over her. Her stomach still hurt, but it didn't seem like she had a sword poking out of her now.

"Yang, it's okay," she heard Ruby say, squeezing Yang's left hand tight. "You're back at the inn. You're all right."

Yang had never thought the empty grip in her right hand would feel more real than the left she'd had all her life. She'd never thought she'd feel cold holding her sister's hand just because her right wasn't holding Jaune's.

"Jaune," Yang said again, her voice hoarse. She tried to sit up, struggling to move and position herself upright against the headboard.

She wasn't looking at Ruby. She couldn't quite seem to move, even to turn her head. She felt Ruby squeeze her hand even tighter when she whispered: "He's gone."

Yang knew it to be true. She'd watched him walk away, even though she'd struggled to keep his hand in her own. She'd heard him whisper something to her and then go off with her mother, disappearing in the dark. Yang knew she'd challenged for his hand and lost.

And then Qrow had snapped at Raven, and Ruby…

Ruby heard…

Yang had to look her in the eye. She had to reach over and tell her sister that she loved her very much and whatever she'd heard –whatever she'd learned- nothing had changed and that Yang was as much her family now as she'd been the day Ruby was born, when she'd vowed to always be with her and love and protect her forever.

She had to do something. She had to just _say_ something.

Yang couldn't drag herself up. She couldn't open her mouth to speak. She just felt tired. And cold. So very cold.

"Rest," Ruby instructed her. "I'll look after you."

It wasn't fair Ruby had to be so strong. That wasn't the role she was supposed to play. Yang was supposed to be the big sister, taking care of her, looking after her, protecting her from the harshness of the world. Yang had failed to answer her at a crucial time once before, and she would not let herself fail to tell her now.

Yang summoned all the strength she had to roll over onto her left side, nearly falling onto Ruby. Yang reached over and pulled her into a hug, though her grip must've been quite weak, and she was putting far too much weight onto her little sister.

"You are my sister," Yang forced herself to say, even in that hoarse and painful voice. "I love you. I love you… so much."

Ruby embraced her as best she could while supporting the weight of Yang's sizeable upper body. She tried to say something, but in the end Ruby broke down, crying into Yang's shoulder.

If Yang had her way, Ruby might've learned the truth some day. But she was quite happy letting Ruby believe Summer Rose was Yang's mother, because Yang believed that more than ever now. Robbing Ruby of her stability and faith… forever tainting memories of Ruby's childhood… it was just another in the long list of grievances Raven had afflicted them with.

Eventually, however, Ruby composed herself and pushed Yang back into bed, still holding her big sister's hand. "Rest," she said again. "We'll talk when you're better."

Yang badly wanted to talk now, to help her sister process what she'd learned. The last thing she wanted was to leave her alone with a painful thought if there was _any_ way Yang could help her through it.

But she was so tired… her grip on Ruby's hand was weakening…

And she kept trying to squeeze Jaune's hand with her right, her fingers cold without his hand to hold.

* * *

 _Kuroyuri- Morning_

Raven awoke well before Jaune and moved quietly as not to wake him. She'd been rejuvenated by him, his Aura giving her the energy of a much younger woman. Looking back at him lying in bed, she understood what her daughter had seen in him…why she'd fought for him.

Why she might've thought herself invincible with his support to drive her.

Raven knew she was not invincible. She knew better than to believe that she was a better fighter than the innumerable monsters waiting in the dark.

They weren't whispering now. They weren't scratching at the walls of their cages. They were afraid to challenge her, but that moment would pass. They had a plan they'd set in motion, and setback or not, they would act while they had the opportunity. They were closer than they'd ever been, and a lull in their movements hadn't changed that simple fact.

Raven sat down beside Jaune in her bed. It had been so long since she'd had a quiet morning, she wanted to savor the feeling of waking beside a man, of the simple intimacy she had long gone without.

He did not love her. Maybe he never would.

Love had cost her before. It had weakened her, and imbalanced her, and led her to a state where she was not in command of her powers, where she was beholden –however indirectly- to the whims of others and her authority over her people depended on what she could draw from this man she'd claimed.

He'd love their children. In that he'd have no choice.

Raven hadn't had any choice in that. It was why she'd needed him right away. To try and forget that hurt, to try and escape the memory, so that when she thought on the prior day, she'd remember her first night with her husband and not how she'd had to harm her child.

Not the life she'd wished for. But maybe, after the threat had passed, good enough.

* * *

 _Mistral- Late Morning_

Yang heard something… a sound like clinking glass. She heard heavy breathing and the sound of wood scraping along the floor.

Yang squeezed her left hand. Ruby wasn't holding onto her anymore…

She shot upwards, rearing back her right hand. Even if she could barely move, getting hit with a hunk of metal would still hurt whoever dared move her baby sister from her side.

She felt a hand catch her metal wrist before she could complete the arc of her swing. "Easy, firecracker," her uncle Qrow's voice advised her.

Yang opened her eyes and saw her uncle sitting beside her, still holding her wrist. Yang lowered her arm, and Qrow relaxed his grip. She looked around as best she could, searching for silver eyes or dark hair with red accents. "Where's Ruby?"

Qrow jerked his head back, sliding in his wooden chair a bit out of Yang's frame of vision, so she could see Ruby asleep in the next bed over. "She wasn't talking to me, but she did listen when I said she should rest. She tried to pretend for a bit, tried to eavesdrop –you know her- in case I was gonna let slip any more secrets, but she's been up for so long, looking after you, looking after me, worrying about everybody all the time… eventually she just conked."

Yang was glad Ruby was asleep. She'd badly needed it. Though once again she'd woken and found no hand to hold. It wasn't a feeling she was sure she could get used to.

Still, she was feeling a little better, at least enough to move around. This time she succeeded in sitting upright, looking over at her uncle. He was seated at her bedside in a wooden chair, and had brought over a pair of dusty looking glasses and set them on her nightstand, sitting beside the gin bottle he'd given her before he'd left her behind in Patch to follow after Ruby.

"It's a little early," Yang remarked.

"You've had a long day," Qrow reminded her, as he uncorked the bottle and poured the hard stuff into each glass. "And I figured I shouldn't let my niece drink alone."

He took one of the glasses in hand and held it out to her. "It helps with the pain. Trust me, I know."

The pain in her stomach wasn't so bad. Still, Yang took the glass from his hand, looking down at the pale yellow liquid. It had been barely two days since her first sip, since she shared this liquor with Jaune… to think… if she'd never offered him the bottle, if she'd never sat down to talk with him and led him back to her room…

Raven would have still come for him. And he'd have probably gone with her, and gotten something in return that could've helped Ruby on her mission, because that was the kind of guy he was. Yang would not have missed him so much if she'd just seen her old school classmate simply take one for the team. She'd probably have been okay with it… and that was a damning thought to her, that just two days ago she'd have thought so little about Jaune's welfare.

He was gone, and she couldn't save him.

Just like she couldn't save Blake… or Ruby…

Yang set the glass back down on the nightstand. "This is something I do with Jaune," she decided.

"Then you'll never drink this stuff again," Qrow pointed out, before drinking from his own glass.

Yang huffed. "Well, go ahead, don't hold back on my account."

"I could use one myself," Qrow admitted. "That wasn't a good day for any of us, kid."

Yang appreciated how Qrow hadn't rubbed her nose in it just yet. "Are you mad?"

Qrow shrugged. "Not as much as I thought I'd be. I'm glad you're alive. I'm glad blondie managed to talk her out of things."

"And take him away," Yang added. "You glad she did that too?"

"Yang," Qrow solemnly replied, "I'm not going to pretend I was cool with you two; you know I wasn't. But do you really think I ever wanted to see my sister try to kill her own daughter? Do you think I ever wanted to see her fall so low?"

Yang conceded that was probably a fair appraisal. She looked over at Ruby still asleep, thinking of how terrible it'd be to see disappointment in those eyes. Yang was suddenly very grateful Ruby had cried into her shoulder and not tried to hold her gaze.

"I never wanted her to know," Yang muttered. "Even when I told myself I'd find my mother, I never once thought I'd stop and tell Ruby any of it. I never wanted her to think there was anything different –anything _less_ \- there just because there was a different woman she'd never known about. I never wanted her to think about how Dad could love someone other than Summer… about what life would be like if she hadn't ever come around. It isn't fair that she has to deal with this."

"Your Dad loved all of you, for one reason or another," Qrow told her. "Loved Raven just as much as he loved Summer, loved you and Ruby just as much as he loved each of them."

"How does that help?" Yang demanded. "Knowing that he loved… that he even thought _she_ was…"

Qrow poured himself a second drink. "And maybe knowing blondie will love her too?"

Yang glared at him. "Don't you say that. Don't you _ever_ say that again…"

Qrow shrugged. "I hope he does. I hope he finds something good to hang onto. I hope my sister finds happiness too, weird as that may sound." Qrow leaned closer to her bedside. "I may have tried to scare him off, but I want all the people in my life to be happy, kid. I just wished we could've gotten some help from Raven along the way. I wish things weren't so bad I had to trade your boyfriend for a few scraps of intel… but that's where things are now. That's the world we're living in."

As Qrow went to take a drink, the glass slipped from his hand and shattered on the wooden floor, the gin spilling out and splashing against the leg of his chair.

"Bad luck…" Qrow sighed. "That's unfortunate."

"Why?" Yang asked, turning to look up at the ceiling.

"Because I'm getting better," Qrow answered. "And that means Raven's monsters will be coming out to play… and blondie will be going with her to fight them again."

* * *

 _The Dark Pathways_

The elder had finally finished collecting the errant limbs that the red huntress had cut away. Its scars still burned from where the Aura had washed over, where the wandering light had struck, but at least its body was whole again.

The others whispered of retreat, but the elder would not be deterred. It called out to the others, in a howl that reverberated through the curves and edges of the dark. They answered it, seeking freedom.

Seeking opportunity.

The distortions had begun again. They were increasing in frequency.

The time was drawing nearer. Their chance would be only the briefest moment, but it would be enough.

Darkness would spill out into the remnant apart and wash over its every corner, and they would dispel all the light, and turn their prison into a paradise.

Soon…


	8. I Will Always Love You

**Chapter Eight: I Will Always Love You**

* * *

 _Kuroyuri_

Jaune eventually awoke, finding himself in an unfamiliar bed. He sat up and glanced around, waiting for his memories to come to him and the events of the previous night to return and clue him in. Gradually, it all returned to him as he took in the setting of the command tent and his clothing piled on the floor beside Raven's bed.

He wished he'd been dreaming. But he knew better than that by now.

Jaune rolled out of bed and set to dressing himself. His new wife had mentioned someone might try to assassinate him, so he kept glancing around as he donned his attire, though it seemed no one was in any hurry to kill him. Maybe they'd try after breakfast.

Speaking thereof, Raven said something about sending out a foraging party… that probably meant there wasn't much food on hand in the bandits' stockpile, wherever they were keeping that. Did they gather together for meals? Did they have to perform certain chores before they were allowed to eat? Jaune suspected there were a bunch of new rules he'd have to learn.

When he finally managed to step outside Raven's tent he took in the setting of Kuroyuri. Even in the light of day the village seemed dark and gloomy, with the tall buildings casting deep shadows over the courtyard and the dead trees and dilapidated ruins giving the place an air of decay. There were a handful of uninitiated bandits moving through one of the circular entrances to the town, carrying heavy burdens of wheat or pulling carts of other assorted grains. It didn't seem like they'd ransacked anyone –seeing as the only city close by was Mistral- but rather uprooted the food crop root and stem. That'd take longer to cultivate… did these bandits know anything about agriculture?

The guys in Atlesian armor seemed like they had no clue what they were doing, just carting around the wheat without even stacking it into bushels. Those wearing Vale green seemed to have a slightly better idea, as they at least carted the grains around rather than try and carry a bunch of stalks on their shoulders.

One such cart was being pulled along by a younger boy, and it was brimming over with grain. The child moved the cart over an uneven patch of pavement and the wooden contraption began to tilt over.

Jaune moved to intercede at once, taking hold of the cart before it could topple over onto the boy trying to pull it over its hump. Grain spilled over the side and scattered in the dirt and stone, but at least the child wasn't crushed under the weight of his own contraption. One of the red-armored bandits stepped over to assist Jaune in righting the cart. Jaune reached down towards the boy, but he'd already dashed away to hide behind another uninitiated bandit wearing Vale green.

Amaranth -the hulking brute of a captain directly subordinate to Raven- stormed over. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"The boy, he was in danger," Jaune frantically pointed after the child, but Amaranth took hold of the back of Jaune's head and pushed him down, rubbing the blonde boy's nose in the grains spilt to the ground.

"Do you see what you cost us?" Amaranth asked him. "If the boy had failed, the failure would've been his and his alone. Yet you intervened, and robbed us of much needed provisions. If you hadn't stepped in, we'd have lost a mouth to feed, and we'd have lost a bandit too stupid to see the ground beneath his feet. All you've done is made us weaker… and _leaner_."

Once, Jaune would've tolerated such bullying and taken it without complaint. Now, he had a very specific promise to honor, and nowhere in that promise did he agree to comply with what Raven's _subordinates_ demanded of him. Jaune turned his head slightly in Amaranth's grip and said up to the brute: "I don't think that's _all_ I've done."

Amaranth hoisted Jaune back up, tightening the grip of his fingers on the back of Jaune's head. Jaune continued to glare at him, still defiant. Amaranth snorted and relaxed his grip, stepping away from Jaune and directing another uninitiated bandit to take over transport of the grain. Jaune watched them take what they'd collected to one of the moats of the town, a handful of the uninitiated bandits setting to work with what had been harvested and what water they had collected to soak legumes and seeds. The raw wheat stalks were trimmed and ground up by simple stone machinery to make flour. It seemed the bandits had at least a _basic_ understanding of cultivating food.

"This is not typical," came Raven's voice as she stepped over to join him, seemingly appearing from nowhere. At once, the uninitiated bandits dropped to one knee. "We don't normally have to perform such labors ourselves. But it's a useful skill for us to have."

"If you worked on that skill, maybe you wouldn't need to steal other people's food," Jaune dryly suggested.

"If you're not strong enough to hold onto something, does it really belong to you?" Raven asked. "It doesn't matter what you can grow or what you can buy; the only thing that has ever mattered is what you can _take_. What would it matter if we planted our own crops if others came to steal them from us? What do crops matter when the Grimm come seeking to claim your life?"

"I saw what happened in Shion," Jaune noted. "That was you, wasn't it?"

"They had resources we could use," Raven flippantly replied. "And they weren't strong enough to hold them."

"Yeah, I guess you have to be strong to hold onto some things," Jaune agreed. "Was their Dad –your husband, right?- not strong enough to hold onto you?"

Raven didn't answer him, clamping her hand down on his wrist. Jaune felt awash with the burning red of her Aura, wrapping around his arm like a length of taut rope. He felt her pulling his energy into herself, greedily sapping at his light, bit by bit.

"No one is strong enough to hold me," Raven told him flatly. "You are only here because you have a use to me. Do not _ever_ mistake that for more than it is." She released her grip on his wrist, then pointed back to her tent. "Wait for me to return. Don't poison anyone else with your foolish notions."

She hid it well, but Jaune had struck a nerve in her. She wasn't just asserting her authority and independence, but trying to discourage his presence and undermine his opinion. She wanted to see her bandits on bent knee rather than reach out and help them in their time of need.

And more than that, she didn't want to think about the past… about that time she hadn't been quite so strong…

* * *

 _Mistral_

Ruby slept late into the day, with Yang keeping a careful watch over her. Qrow was nearly back to full health and up and about (when not drinking, anyway) and Ren and Nora had mostly kept to themselves in their room, with Ren stepping out long enough to bring up food for the sisters before disappearing again.

Yang took stock of her belongings while Ruby slept, though she was still a bit unsteady on her feet. Her new tailcoat had a big hole poking out the back, though Raven had been kind enough to stab her midsection below her shirt line, so Yang had only ruined _one_ piece of clothing so far. Her pants were bloodstained and probably in dire need of a wash, but things could be worse.

She glanced down at the bed she'd been sleeping in. It was the one she'd shared with Jaune that first night, after they'd split the bottle of gin now sitting on the nightstand beside it.

It was the same one Raven had lay in when she recuperated from her trip into that other dimension. Yang recalled staring across at her, trying to understand why the woman had abandoned her.

Now Jaune… and Raven…

Yang looked down at her right hand, still squeezing her fingers shut, reaching for a warm hand to hold. She hoped that wouldn't always be the case: her memories asserting themselves and compelling a physical action she hadn't instructed. Was that just the way the machine worked? Did it just assume she wanted to take hold of a hand and kept trying to achieve the task, even if there was no longer a hand to hold?

It wasn't wrong to do so. A few days ago, she'd have never wished to hold Jaune's hand. She wouldn't know the feeling of his warmth or miss holding it in her hand. She wouldn't long for something if she'd never known it.

Yang turned her attention to her hair. It was a right mess from lying half-matted in bed after a brutal fight that saw her land hard in the dirt after sweating hard into it. She didn't want to leave Ruby's side, so Yang didn't rush out for a shower, but she did comb it obsessively, trying to pull out the errant shards of dirt and to straighten the more uncooperative strands.

While running her left hand over the top of her head, she took hold of a particular clump of blonde hair that just didn't want to stay down, and while jostling it, she recalled running her fingers over Jaune's blonde head back at Beacon, encouraging him not to give up his pursuit back when he'd been chasing Weiss. Then she thought of a more recent instance when that same left hand –the one that hadn't insisted on keeping hold of Jaune's fingers- ran over his shoulder and down his chest.

She had to stop thinking about this. Ruby needed her now. Yang had to be strong enough to explain things to her sister and not let the pain of this loss deter her. She had to be the rock again, to take care of the life that had _always_ been precious to her. Whatever Jaune had been to Yang, he'd only been that something a few days. For Ruby's entire life, Yang had been a constant. Yang recalled a time before Ruby, but only briefly… and it had not been a time that filled her with joy the way her sister had.

There would be time to be sad later. There would be time to think on her own loss once Yang was able to restore Ruby's smile. It may have been too late to save her sister's innocence or to completely repair her understanding of her place in the world, but Yang would _not_ let Raven change Ruby any more than she had already, and would mitigate as much damage as she could. It wasn't just about denying Raven the chance to do more damage; it was about safeguarding _the most important person_ in Yang's life.

Her right hand kept trying to clamp down, to find a grip… to not feel so cold…

Ruby took her hand too. It helped make Yang feel at home on this strange continent, to know that no matter how much she'd changed, no matter how far she was from her home, Ruby's love was still there, waiting to accept her as she was.

Yang hoped that was still the case. Yang hoped that Ruby would understand why she'd kept this secret, and believe her sister when she said she'd done it to protect her, and not complicate the simple –even idyllic- life she'd had before.

"Yang…?"

Ruby rolled over in bed and looked up, blinking those big orbs of silver up at her. Yang pulled up a wooden chair from the desk beside the twin beds, nearly falling over into it, reaching her right hand down to gingerly hold the wound in her stomach, figuring she'd put that gripping motion to some good use.

"Hey," she greeted fondly, reaching over to take hold of her sister's right hand with her left. "You feeling better?"

"I should be asking you that," Ruby argued, her voice groggy and slurred a bit. "Ugh, how long was I out?"

"Don't know," Yang admitted. "Qrow dropped by to fill in for you. I don't know how long he was here or when you nodded off."

Probably not very reassuring to hear, but it was the truth. Yang intended to tell Ruby nothing but that, if she could.

Ruby sat up in bed, still holding onto Yang's hand. Where before she'd looked up at her sister, now her gaze was downcast, her eyes pointed determinedly at the floor. For a long time they sat across from each other, silence hanging in the air between them.

Yang really didn't want to start. But she was the big sister, the rock, the example to follow. She had to be the strong one, even when it was hard for her to play the part. _Especially_ when it was hard.

"I don't know if I ever would've told you," Yang admitted. "I didn't ever want you to think any differently about Mom or Dad or… or _me_. I wanted you to remember things the way they were, and never make things any more difficult or complicated than they had to be."

"But you were looking for her, weren't you?" Ruby asked. "Whenever you'd disappear on the weekends and days off, or go outside the kingdom, or went to places like that one guy's club… you were looking for Raven?"

Yang closed her eyes, counted silently, and nodded. "Yes, I was. I wanted to know why she'd left me, and I… don't know, to meet her, to understand her, maybe even at one time to try and persuade her to come back. You were still so young when Mom died you didn't see the affect it had on Dad, and…" She was making excuses. "…and I was so desperate to find her, to make _any_ change at all, that I nearly got us killed when I took you out into the woods with me when I went searching for her. After that night, I knew I couldn't bring you along. They weren't answers _you_ needed. They'd only make things harder for you."

"Maybe," Ruby agreed, "but then it wouldn't have been the truth, would it? You'd have been hurting all by yourself and I'd never know. Do you really think I wanted that?"

"And you'd have been a little girl thinking your big sister was busy chasing after a different mother than the one you knew, maybe even thinking she cared more about chasing a woman she didn't remember than she cared about you," Yang fired back. "I _wanted_ to tell you. More than once, I nearly did. After we got to Beacon I kept coming up with reasons not to… I kept saying there'd be plenty of time for you to grow. I thought we had all the time in the world before… before the tournament and everything that happened."

She didn't want to mention Blake. She didn't want to think about Blake. That was another wound that hadn't yet finished healing, and though Yang was committed to telling Ruby the truth, she desperately wanted not to say it.

She had to be strong. She had to remove all doubt from Ruby's mind. She had to take all of her sister's burdens on her back and see that Ruby still looked up to her; still believed Yang would be on hand to protect her.

Yang steeled herself. "I talked to Blake about this before the dance; I was trying to help her through all the stuff she was dealing with and not let it stress her out too much. I reminded her that she couldn't let her personal obsessions ever get in the way of the people you cared about. I went out searching for Raven, yes, but it never bothered me that I couldn't find her." Yang squeezed Ruby's hand tight. "Not when I had _you_."

Ruby finally looked up at Yang, removing her eyes from the floor. "What you said last night…"

" _You are my sister_ ," Yang firmly repeated. "I love you, and I will always love you. Please don't ever think anything but that… please don't think that'll _ever_ stop being true."

Ruby nodded. She pulled Yang over onto the bed and hugged her tightly. Yang was only too happy to reciprocate, at least until Ruby put a bit too much pressure down on her stomach wound. "Rubes…"

"Little longer," Ruby requested, apparently unaware of where she was positioned.

Yang adjusted herself a bit so that Ruby wasn't putting quite so much weight down on Yang's stomach, than eagerly indulged her little sister, still squeezing her right hand. "Okay."

* * *

 _Across the Hall_

Ren busied himself fixing the damage done to Ember Celica. Whether Raven meant to permanently destroy the twin bracers or not, she'd managed to sever quite a bit of the internal machinery. Only one of the gauntlets still had its firing mechanism intact, with the other basically holding a bunch of explosive pellet rounds for nothing but decoration. Still, at least one of Yang's weapons could be fired, and with time and the proper parts he'd be able to fix the other. It was some small measure of assistance, but it kept him occupied and provided a service to his friend in her time of need.

Unfortunately, Nora had no such means of busying herself, and she'd done little but sit in her bed looking out the window. Normally she'd be upbeat and enthusiastic, but right now she seemed to devote all her energy to moping. Ren thought he should find some reason to help her, to offer some reassurance, to just hold her for a moment and help force all the sorrow back below the surface, but he couldn't give her what she wanted: to feel complete again, or at the very least, to feel _less incomplete_.

Perhaps once Ren had been all she needed. And in time, that may well be true again, allowing Nora to return to her usual self. But when they lost Pyrrha, she'd gone through this same process, moping in her bed and looking out at the world in case it decided to try and take something else from her. It had been some time before she was upbeat and bubbly again, and _almost_ as protective of Jaune as she was of Ren. She'd latched onto him and adopted him as her family, and apparently had never once allowed herself to consider the possibility of losing him.

Ren knew she was tempted to march right back to Kuroyuri and demand Jaune's return, winning out over the bandits through sheer grit and determination. Whether she respected Jaune's wish or not, Ren knew that she _wanted_ to drag him back and convince herself everything would work out and they could all remain together for the foreseeable future. She was optimistic that way.

It fell to Ren to be the realist, to drag her back down to reality. That meant he couldn't sit beside her and take hold of her, lest she do all she could to convince him to follow her and do anything and everything they could to bring Jaune back to them. He had to respect Jaune's wish and keep Nora focused on helping Ruby, even if it meant having to endure the sight of her in pain once again.

He hated to abandon his comrade –his _brother_ \- to this fate, but that was the task Jaune had entrusted him with. Ren was the rock now, holding the fragments of JNPR together, carrying on their legacy and fighting beside their friends in Team RWBY.

Yang would need her weapons, and Ren could fix them. Nora needed not to hope for another outcome and accept the reality that had befallen them and –hard as it was for him to stay away from her side- Ren could do that too.

* * *

 _Kuroyuri, Evening_

Jaune had wiled away one maddening hour after another in Raven's tent, pacing, searching for a signal with his Scroll, or even practicing his form as best he could without knocking anything over. When Raven finally returned, she presented him with a small plate of beans and a slice of wheat bread, each dry and crusted and equally unsatisfying as a meal. Then, having given him something to keep his energy up, she promptly put that energy to use.

Jaune didn't fight her, going along with her wish… again and again… to the point he started to wonder what had come over her. Raven just did not stop, even when she was panting hard and clearly exhausted, she still tried to keep the act going.

"Again?" Jaune asked.

Raven didn't answer him then. She just kept going.

"Raven?"

She didn't hear him. She just kept going.

When at last she fell beside him, stained with sweat and gasping in desperate effort to catch every breath, Jaune looked at the back of her head as Raven pushed her face into her pillow.

The previous night she'd been aggressive, but this… this wasn't just her asserting dominance over him. This was Raven pushing herself, and needlessly so. At least, so it seemed.

Jaune reached a hand towards her shoulder. He was genuinely curious when he asked: "Are you all right?"

"Shut up!" Raven snapped, still struggling for breath as she shrugged her shoulder away from his grip. "Just… just don't talk. Just do what I tell you to do."

It wasn't like her to lose her composure. Jaune had seen it only once, when they were surrounded by monsters and she'd gone to secure him before one finished ensnaring him. Why was she so discordant now, in a setting like this?

Jaune may not have been thrilled to share Raven's bed and hated what she'd done to Yang, but seeing her like this… seeing her frustrated and disheveled without knowing exactly why…

He'd never wanted this. If circumstances had been different, he'd never have seen this. But he was there now, and honorbound to remain there, and this woman who'd decided he was her husband… this was his life now, and whatever Raven's faults, he didn't wish this strange suffering on anyone.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked her.

"I told you not to talk," Raven snapped again, rolling over and pushing her hand down on his chest as she moved back to position.

Jaune was silent as he watched her motions. She didn't meet his eye, always averting her gaze from him or burying her head in the pillow of her bed or against his shoulder. It wasn't simple exhaustion –Raven was well past that- but a deliberate effort not to let him see her face. When her head wasn't obscured by her long mane and he could see glimpses of her red eyes, Jaune saw her eyes unfocused and glazed over. Either she wasn't thinking about all she was doing, or trying very, _very_ hard not to think. Based on her actions, Jaune suspected the latter.

When she rolled off him and fell into the bedspread again, she landed flat on her back, staring up at the canopy of her tent. Jaune glanced her way, searching her eyes for some other emotion, some other hint to why she was behaving so, to why she didn't want to think.

Raven was quiet for a long time, save for her haggard breathing, and though aware Jaune was staring at her, she did nothing to avert his gaze this time. Perhaps she'd simply worn herself out too much to even turn her head.

"Why did you ask that?" Raven finally inquired.

"Ask what?" Jaune wondered. He honestly wasn't sure which question he'd posed would be on her mind.

"My husband," Raven snapped. "Why do you care?"

At the time, Jaune had intended only to show a bit of defiance. He'd perhaps indulged himself too much in being smart with Raven, in undermining her a little bit by reminding her of a time she hadn't been bossing a bunch of wayward bandits around.

It had clearly affected her, though not in the way he'd intended. "I care about _Yang_ ," Jaune flatly replied. He opted not to mention Ruby.

"And you think I don't?" Raven blurted out at him.

For a long time Jaune was quiet. Raven quickly came to realize her misstep, turning her head away from him, not letting him see whatever gamut of emotions ran through her face.

"I… didn't get that sense, no," was all Jaune could manage to say.

"Of course not, of course you didn't," Raven mused. "What have you ever known of loss, Jaune Arc? When have you ever had to let go of someone you loved because you'd put them in danger if you stayed?"

Jaune hadn't performed that exact action… but he knew the feeling. He knew what it was to let go when he hadn't wanted to, or to have his hand forced away for his own safety and well-being. It hurt either time and for each reason.

He didn't say it. He let Raven speak.

"I couldn't even say goodbye to him," Raven bitterly muttered. "I didn't want to leave my daughter's side, so I just… I just…"

She slapped her hand down against the fabric of her mattress, suppressing her voice with the sound. She turned towards Jaune again, pulling herself back atop him. "Forget it," she flatly instructed. "Just… just forget it…"

Was it Jaune she was telling that to?

Maybe, but it sounded less like a command… than a mantra. Raven wasn't merely trying to turn Jaune's attention from the weakness she'd inadvertently shown him, but she was doing all she could to bury the pain he'd unintentionally dragged to the surface. She was running from a memory that refused to leave her, and doing all she could not to think.

Did she regret then what she'd done the prior day? Or did she feel more guilty about what she'd done seventeen years before then? Or both?

Did it matter to her which memory she put out of her mind? Did it matter what pain she forgot so long as she forgot?

* * *

Amaranth stood sentry outside his chief's tent: grunt work for a captain, but a demonstration of loyalty from a would-be usurper. He played the part of the enforcer of the chief's will in the morning, and now he played the stalwart guard of her quarters in the night. All pretense, but a better role for him to play than his co-conspirator: Amaranth appeared loyal, even if he discreetly alerted an associate that their leader's attention was elsewhere.

Debian slipped out in the night, careful to avoid the attention of any loyalists or new recruits. Some might be inclined to back his coup, but he didn't want anyone less certain to join in before all the players were in place. Instead, he'd turn his eye outward.

It was a violation of their laws to seek help from outsiders, but their dear chief had already seen fit to break the rules all on her own, allowing her brother to live even when he'd willfully abandoned the tribe. So long as Debian kept the others alive and fed, he very much doubted they'd care what ancient codes he'd had to violate to get them there.

He hesitated outside the inn, but did eventually will himself to enter, searching for the room Raven had been staying in. When he went to knock at the door, he heard a familiar whoosh of metal cutting through the air, and felt the broad side of a sword slide under his chin.

"Come back to finish your work?"

Qrow Branwen. It seemed he was feeling better. Debian put up both his hands, showing he was unarmed. "I didn't come to fight," he offered.

"I didn't think you did," Qrow countered.

He wasn't wrong… but Debian had anticipated this response. "I came with an offer."

"What makes you think I want anything from you?" Qrow snarled at him.

"It's not _you_ I came to see," Debian answered. "It's the girl the chief bested- Yang, was it?"

Qrow narrowed his eyes. "If you think _for one second_ I'm letting you near my niece-"

The door opened. Yang glanced out into the hall and saw Qrow holding his sword to Debian's throat. Qrow cursed under his breath as Yang turned her attention to the wispy bandit, glaring at him and harshly inquiring: "What do you want?"

"To lead my tribe," Debian answered. "To take it from that unworthy woman and tear her down before she kills us all fighting those monsters."

"I thought you needed Raven's Semblance to move the tribe around," Qrow pointed out.

"We didn't need it in the years we went without her," Debian reminded him. "We'll find another way."

"And why should we go along with this?" Qrow asked, pushing the blunt side of his blade a little firmer to Debian's chin.

"Because I can give you back that boy she took," Debian assured him. "And more… I can give you the chief, for whatever information she has to offer you, for whatever strength she has to contribute to your war with the witch and her Grimm."

"Why should we-" Qrow began, but Yang intervened, taking hold of either flat side of Qrow's sword and pushing it away from the bandit's chin.

"Tell me your plan," Yang told him. "Tell me how we get Jaune back."


	9. They Are the Enemy

**Chapter Nine: They Are the Enemy**

* * *

 _The Past_

There were so many. Every day she slew more and more of their number, and the dark pathways had fewer monsters pursuing her or trying to whisper in her ear. Yet she was never truly at peace, constantly waking to the sound of their scratching against the barriers and the sight of cracks forming in the tapestry of the remnant apart. She had to steel herself and go back in and resume the fight, even as the denizens taunted at her that she was waging a hopeless battle and trying to drown her despair in their black blood.

They weren't wrong. Fighting against a horde of monsters in their own domain was preferable to what bombarded her in the real world… even a handful of words on a screen were harder for her to bear than devoting hour after hour to her quest to destroy them… and then to minimize their number… and then to _just stop hearing their whispers_.

She kept lowering her standards so she could eke out something resembling a victory. She may well have been making progress in reducing the number of monsters pounding on the walls, but more often than not she felt like she was getting more benefit for herself than the rest of the remnant apart, for whose sake she was waging this fight… or so she convinced herself.

It was better than paying attention to her Scroll.

Only three people still had the number. Qrow didn't bother her; he knew there was no point. Tai tried to reach her –again and again- not even to ask her to return, only to ask _why_. Only so he had something he could tell their daughter. Reading his questions didn't get any easier for her just because Raven was satisfied with the answers she'd send back to him. More than once she tried to compose a response but stopped herself before her fingers could reach the screen, just in case Tai saw her attempt to respond and she accidentally lifted his hopes.

It was _months_ before he stopped trying to reach her. He was always so determined, always so persistent… and it hurt her every day she saw a new message and realized he hadn't given up on her. If she ever broke down and talked to him, he'd convince her to come back; he'd wear down her defenses and remind her that no matter what she'd done, no matter why she'd gone, he still loved her and always would. She needed not to hear his voice, because he'd be able to bring her back.

But Tai wasn't the only one who tried desperately to reach her. Fortunately, Raven had far less sympathy for her _other_ teammate. She could deftly ignore her pleas that she return and not leave her husband –or her daughter- behind. Summer should've been pleased Raven was out of the picture: now she could finally hoard the sun all to herself, like she'd wanted from their third semester at Beacon, if not sooner even than that.

It was easy to ignore Summer. She may have been Raven's comrade once, but Raven _never_ liked her. She didn't see reason to pretend and hadn't bothered to keep in touch. Summer would have no reason to talk to her were it not for the two teammates she _did_ care for. Still, Raven knew her pleas were genuine. Whether Summer still considered Raven her friend or not, she _would_ make every effort to bring her teammate back and help Tai find his happiness. She was annoyingly persistent that way, not unlike Tai.

That resentment Raven felt for Summer gave the dark denizens nothing to play off. The Grimm may have been drawn to her negative emotion, but the monsters stuck in the dark pathways couldn't taunt her with promises of deepening her despair further by threatening someone Raven never liked. Summer's texts were easy to read, and never once distracted her from carrying on the fight as the days wore on. The battle didn't seem quite so trying when she didn't receive a constant reminder of why she was waging it. It was just a chore, like any other.

Until she received a long message about how Summer had started living with Tai, helping him to raise his child. The long prose wasn't so hard for Raven to process, but the picture Summer attached… she'd never felt such pain as she did at the sight of her daughter in another woman's arms, her husband with a hand on that other woman's shoulder.

Where before Summer's messages had given Raven a strange sense of solace, now they reminded her that she was too far gone to ever return. If Summer was living with them now, Yang would eventually regard Summer as her mother, and never recall the moments Raven held her in the first few days of her life.

Raven had hoped that another woman would love her child and give Yang a happy life. She hoped Tai would eventually move on and find happiness with someone else. But Raven never thought she'd have to _see_ it, have to have it so brutally confirmed that it was real, that her family was gone…

This was what was supposed to happen. This was what _had_ to happen. Her daughter and her husband were safe and happy. That was _why she left_. That was _why she was fighting monsters and not living with them_.

That was the only message she typed in her Scroll: not to her three teammates, but to her daughter. Even if Raven would never see her, even if she'd never feel her warmth or see her take a step or hear the sound of her voice, Raven would still love her and make this sacrifice for her. For Yang. All of it for Yang.

It'd get easier. The pain would not be so overpowering… she just needed not to dwell on the past, just needed to keep fighting, keep moving on, not let herself be shackled by the loves she'd lost but instead think of the future.

The tribe had need of a new leader with the old chieftain's passing. Raven knew that the remnant apart wasn't yet safe from the monsters' incursions, but her people would be strong enough to fight them should they force their way free and weathered enough to resist their whispers of sweet promises.

She may well always be alone in the fight against the dark denizens, but when she returned from their prison she didn't need to reside in a prison of her own. She didn't have to be alone with her memories every time she needed to rest. She could find something else to occupy her mind. She could _forget_ , if even just for a little while.

Raven had never once thought she'd return to the tribe. She'd thought that a chapter in her life long closed, just as Qrow had.

How circumstances changed.

* * *

 _Mistral, Early Morning, Today_

Qrow had eventually agreed to stop holding his sword to Debian's throat, but he stood with his hand on the weapon's hilt at all times. Once Ren and Nora were awoken and brought in, they met together in Yang's room so the bandit captain could explain himself. Qrow was the most obvious about demonstrating his distrust, but none of them made much effort to hide their distaste for Debian, nor did he make any attempt to dissuade them so.

Instead, the bandit was openly antagonistic, if only subtly: "We're not far from the chief enacting her mission. Now that she has… _sufficient Aura_ … she's waiting until the last possible moment before her brother's-" He paused long enough to jerk his head at Qrow, "- Semblance completely reasserts and creates a strong enough distortion for her enemies to amass. Since you're both in close proximity, she won't have far to travel."

"Is she waiting for these things to attack first?" Ren inquired.

"No," Debian shook his head. "She _will_ strike first. The chief thinks that she'll be able to destroy the greatest number of them if she and the boy intercede while their forces are gathering. She won't be too long: just long enough to destroy enough of them to discourage the others. But the energy expenditure will be colossal. When she exits from the pathways she'll be vulnerable."

"And that's when you want to attack?" Nora asked. "What about Jaune? Won't he be going in there with her?"

"The boy doesn't interest me," Debian flatly replied. "Once he serves his purpose and helps the chief strike at her enemy, I'll be happy to give him back to you. But to answer your question: it won't be _me_ who attacks her. There are rules to determine our succession."

"In other words, you want us to do your dirty work," Qrow snorted.

"Not all of you," Debian clarified, turning his attention to Yang. "Just you."

Yang narrowed her eyes. "And what –exactly- do you expect me to do?"

"You survived her blade, which means your duel is unfinished," Debian explained. "You can challenge her again to complete your battle."

"Sounds like you want her m- _Raven_ to die," Ruby pointed out.

Her slip wasn't missed by Debian. "There's no reason to argue on her behalf, little girl. She made her dear daughter –Yang, wasn't it?- _bleed_." He pointed to the wound in Yang's stomach, before holding up his arm to show the long cut he'd left. "I can sympathize with that."

Debian cleared his throat and resumed. "But I don't need her to _die_ , no. If she is _defeated_ , if she shows _weakness_ , that is enough. It won't matter if the chief lives to see another day: no one will support her after seeing her suffer a loss at a child's hand."

"And you think Yang can beat her, after the hit she took?" Qrow demanded.

"After the chief exhausts herself fighting the monsters, yes," Debian confirmed, before turning his attention back to Yang. "She had to call upon her Semblance to defeat you the last time. After her first strike on the denizens she will have to close the entrance to the pathways, at least for a short time. You are wounded now, but she will be exhausted and vulnerable and unable to rely upon her power. You will have no better chance than that."

Debian glanced back at Qrow. "It has to be the girl. Honestly, I'd prefer it be you… but as you have already abandoned the tribe once, the chief could easily choose to decline your offer. No one would question her decision, and no one will be in any hurry to support the claim of a man who abandoned them."

"These are stupid rules," Yang remarked.

"These rules are the only reasons that convince thieves and murderers to cooperate and band together," Debian replied. "Insult us as you wish, but we will honor our codes. We will not be judged by you because we are strong enough to decide for ourselves."

"And if she _does_ defeat Raven, what then?" Qrow asked. "What guarantee is there _you_ get to lead the tribe instead of that big guy with the axe who dropped by the other day?"

"Amaranth is backing my move," Debian dismissively replied. "Unless all three other captains decide to support the chief –and if she's defeated by this girl they'll have no sound reason to do so- they'll accept me as a viable replacement. And then, once you've finished the battle, I will order the chief's exile. She'll have no one to turn to except for you… _her family_."

Yang glared at the wispy bandit. "And what happens if you change your mind?"

"Well, then we fight each other, don't we?" Debian responded with an arrogant smirk. "But why would I do that? It wouldn't be a very promising start to my time as chieftain. Your war is against Salem and her Grimm, isn't it? Letting you go to fight your own battles solves a lot more problems than simply killing you when this done."

Qrow crossed his arms –finally letting go of the hilt of his blade- and thought. The reasoning was practical, the plan solid. "Give us a minute," he instructed. "Go downstairs and have a drink. We'll consider your offer."

Debian nodded. "Try not to be too long. If we're going to move, we must do so soon. We must do so _today_."

"Yeah, we got it," Yang snapped. "We'll let you know what we decide."

Debian stepped outside. He made a point of making several loud footsteps to simulate his departure down the stairs before turning his attention to the other two rooms that his potential allies had been using.

The boy in green and the girl in pink were an unknown element. They may well become his allies, but they would never be more than allies of convenience. Debian did not feel compelled to respect their privacy.

A quick inspection of their room yielded some interesting insights: one of the two was working on Yang's weapons, repairing them after the chief cut them apart. They had multiple weapons at their disposal in addition to the hammer and the submachineguns attached to their person: Dust cartridges lay scattered about, and a single dagger rested against the wall.

That would do just fine.

* * *

Ren's eyes were closed tight and his arm was extended. The others were quiet, waiting for his signal as he reached out. Eventually, Ren opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "He's gone. He stopped to look in both the other rooms, but he didn't take anything… unless he's better at this than he seems to be."

"Probably scoping us out to see if we have anything for him to barter if things go south," Qrow snarled. "I'd never suggest you trust that weasel, but I think he's on the level about this. He wouldn't be reaching out if he didn't think this could work."

"So… we go with it?" Nora asked. "We get Jaune back."

" _Not_ what I said," Qrow snapped. "Yes, I think this guy's serious about an alliance and serious about getting rid of Raven. I don't for a second think he'll just let us walk out once the work's done. I don't think he'll let Raven live and I don't think he'll let Jaune go. This is all about us doing the hard part and him not getting his hands dirty. We shouldn't do it."

"And lose our chance to get Jaune back?" Nora snapped.

"Which is what Jaune would insist upon," Ren interjected.

"Except he agreed to go with Raven, not join the bandits," Nora argued. "We take her back with us, he comes along."

"Assuming our 'ally' keeps his word," Ren countered. "He _is_ a bandit. Even when they follow through on their promises, the cost is never worth it."

Yang turned her attention to Qrow, who shook his head. "This isn't a smart play, kid."

"And what _is_ the smart play?" Yang demanded. "We just leave Jaune behind and get nothing? _You_ might be willing to give him up, but why should we?"

"Because there are a lot more problems for us to sort through than just your boy toy buddy," Qrow replied. "Let Raven's little pack do what they want. We have to get to Haven and warn them about what Salem's up to, or another school –and another relic- could be lost. _Those_ are the battles we should be fighting. Raven _could_ help us, and I really do believe she could… but she _won't_. She made her call and she's not going to be any more willing after we help to depose her."

Slowly, the four turned their attention to Ruby. Ren and Qrow had raised their objections; Nora and Yang had given voice to their passion. They turned their sights to her.

Once, Ruby might've deferred to her uncle. But he wasn't on her good side at the moment. Once, she might've deferred to Jaune and the wishes of his team, but Jaune wasn't there to offer his opinion and Ren and Nora were divided. It fell to her.

Ruby met her sister's eye. When Ruby was feeling lost, Yang had fought through her injuries and pulled her back. When Ruby asked, Yang revealed how she felt –as best she could explain, anyway- about Jaune and knew that whatever they had was something that motivated Yang to not only take extraordinary risks, but to find a resonance with someone else that she'd never expected to find.

Qrow was right: they _did_ have bigger problems. But how would they ever solve those big problems if they didn't try to fix the small ones? And when she truly became a huntress –as she'd always wished- would she be able to recount this day as the moment she went to save her friend or the day she left him behind?

Hard decisions, maybe… but not from Ruby's perspective. She might agree with Ren to honor Jaune's wish, but she also agreed with Nora that they could find a loophole in his promise and get him back. Her uncle Qrow was right that these bandits couldn't be trusted, but knowing Yang would lose out on this thing with Jaune wouldn't hurt only Yang: it'd hurt Ruby too, to know she'd willingly left her sister and her best friend apart when she could've done differently.

"We're getting Jaune back," Ruby decided. "And if the bandits don't go for it, we find a way through."

It was optimistic; more naïve than Ruby had been lately. But when rescuing someone from a deadly enemy inside their own territory, optimism would be called for. And when deciding to be a huntress and fighting against the evils of the world, Ruby would far prefer to believe a difficult task could be achieved, and that saving lives was the whole point.

Qrow massaged his temples before turning his attention to Ren and Nora. "Could you excuse us for a moment? I'd like to have a word with my nieces."

Nora seemed willing to argue the point, but Ren was quick to intervene, placing a soothing hand on his partner's shoulder. "We'll be next door. I'll continue my work on Ember Celica and see if I can get both gauntlets back up to combat readiness."

Nora turned her attention to Ren, no doubt ready to continue persuading him, but satisfied he was making a contribution. She pointed two fingers at her blue eyes then pointed her index finger back at Qrow before stepping out of the room, as the drunken huntsman turned his attention to Ruby and Yang.

Qrow ran through a gamut of emotions as he considered what to say, before softening his expression and quietly asking: "You remember what happened the last time you tried to fight her?"

"Hard to forget," Yang deadpanned back.

"And you really think this'll go any differently?" Qrow asked. "Let's say Debian's on the level and Raven will be exhausted and vulnerable. So are you. Do you really think you'll beat her? Do you really think anything's changed since the last time?"

" _A lot_ 's changed since the last time," Yang argued.

"For her as well as you," Qrow argued right back. "Blondie patched her right up and can do it again. Even if we go through with all of this, you'll be fighting the same woman, with the same skills, the same experience, and without the option of picking the battlefield. Why do you think anything will go differently this time?"

"She didn't kill me," Yang answered. "I don't think she wants to."

"I don't think she _wants_ to either," Qrow agreed. "But she'll _do_ it just the same when the chips are down."

"We know where you stand," Yang observed. "Are you going to help us or not?"

Qrow glanced over at Ruby, who pointedly avoided his gaze. He turned back to Yang and her surprisingly fierce lilac eyes. "Just one question, firecracker: is this about getting your boy back, or about putting the hurt on Raven?"

"She said I was nothing to her," Yang dismissively replied. "I don't need anything from her now."

Qrow took out his flask and took a particularly long drink, long enough to hear several awkward coughs from Ruby.

"Fine, but this goes sideways I'm getting Ruby out and taking her straight to Haven," Qrow promised. "Can we all just agree there's a bigger picture we have to remember?"

"If you think I'll let you leave Yang –or Ren or Nora- behind, you-" Ruby began, but Yang raised her left hand to quell her little sister.

"Sorry, Rubes, but I agree with Qrow on that," Yang told her. "Whatever happens, you have to stop Salem. That's what Jaune wanted too, and I'm sure Ren and Nora would agree."

Ruby crossed her arms and scoffed in irritation. "Why is it everyone _still_ insists on protecting me?"

"It's what big sisters do," Yang assured her, reaching her left hand back to tussle Ruby's hair.

Qrow seemed prepared to say something, but fell silent, merely looking towards his younger niece, the family with whom he shared no blood. He was staring long enough that Ruby noticed, even as she tried to put her hair back into place and met his red eyes.

Qrow forced himself to look away, to brush off whatever he might've wanted to tell her. How he wished he could gain her forgiveness for deceiving her – _again_ \- because he'd simply pretended his sister was a teammate to Ruby and Yang's father and never anything more. Of all the lies he'd told over the years, that one had been easy enough to maintain. He'd much prefer a beaming smile after he'd told Ruby a lie than the distrust he saw in her eyes after he'd told her the truth.

He withheld that thought too. He was getting good at not speaking his mind now.

* * *

 _The More Recent Past_

Raven didn't usually respond to messages. But Qrow reached out to her so infrequently, and no matter how she might've tried she couldn't cut him from her life completely. She didn't want to be close to him for too long –in case the distortions he caused caught the attention of anyone wandering the dark pathways- but she'd oblige him for a meeting. And as it happened, he was in Anima transporting something valuable, and she had information to share with him.

Despite the haste required of his task, Qrow _still_ found time to wet his beak. It was fortunate she'd become used to him stinking of the cheap stuff, because every time she met him he smelled increasingly like a distillery. After exchanging some pleasantries and confirming for him the identity of one of a trio of enemies he'd recently battled with, Raven sat down with him to share a drink.

"Heard you put in an appearance at Mountain Glenn," Qrow noted, already halfway through his glass. "You get a chance to see her now that she's all grown up?"

Of all the subjects he could've broached… how had he even known? Raven kept herself composed and played it off. "Briefly. I was… in the vicinity."

"Of course you were," Qrow slurred with a smirk. Raven cursed her brother his perception –even when bombed- and acknowledged he'd seen right through her. "She looks just like you, you know. Weren't for those blonde locks, weren't for her dressing up like her Dad…"

Raven _wanted_ to hear all this. She wanted to know about the woman her daughter had grown to become. But if she held to that thought, if she allowed herself to be bound to that weakness, her enemies would pounce. They were pacified for the moment, but only because things had been stable throughout the kingdoms, maintaining that uneasy peace as they geared up for the Vytal Festival rather than covertly seek to undermine each other.

It wouldn't last. "I saved her then. She shouldn't expect me to show her that kindness again."

Qrow turned far less whimsical. "Yeah, I guess she shouldn't. You're much too busy these days."

"Things are changing in the tribe," Raven explained. "The chieftain is dying, and he knows it. And he knows none of his captains are worthy to succeed him."

"You, leader of the bandits," Qrow remarked. "I thought for a moment there you'd decided there were some other people worth giving your attention to. For a second there, I thought you might've realized you didn't have to sit this fight out."

Raven tapped the package beside Qrow. "You're taking her to Beacon?"

"Oz has a way to help her," Qrow explained. "Waiting on Jimmy and his robots to pick me up."

An alliance between Beacon and Atlas… she never thought Qrow could be so naïve. Raven left her drink unfinished on the table and stood up. "You should take her somewhere else. Beacon is where your friends will be making their move. Ozpin can come up with one clever plan after another; he can't stop this." She tapped the package again. "And neither can she."

She desperately wanted to mention her daughter, to ask Qrow to take her out of the school before the things she'd predicted finally happened. The kingdom may survive the loss of the huntsman academy, but if Salem got her hands on the relic…

The relics caused all their problems in the first place. The Grimm knew about the dark pathways, and probably told the woman holding their leash when she asked. If she ever had the means of using that power, the power that built the remnant apart and the fragment apace…

"You're a real ray of sunshine, you know that?" Qrow deadpanned. "Yang's a lot more optimistic. She may look like you, but she's a lot more like her Dad. Thank goodness for that."

Raven was glad Yang didn't turn out like her mother. But she didn't bother to mention that to Qrow. "Beacon will fall, Qrow, and Ozpin will fail. You should cut your losses and fall back."

"And what, go back with you to the tribe?" Qrow asked.

"You better hope I _do_ become chief," Raven suggested. "Because if I don't, you'll never be able to go back. And when all this is done, the tribe may well be the only place you can turn."

"You don't have to keep running, Raven," Qrow reminded her, finally dropping his snark and adopting a more direct tone; finally trying to appeal to her with nothing but raw honesty. "She can take care of herself now. Even if you can't be her mother, you can still be part of her life. You can still fight beside her and still look after her."

How Raven wished she could.

She couldn't go back. She was too far gone. She was a stranger to Yang now, and though Yang was hardly safe at Beacon under Ozpin's eye, she still wasn't ready to join the tribe. She hadn't lost enough yet, if she still had a father at home and a roof over her head. She hadn't suffered enough to be strong, and Raven would prefer she not have to become so… at least not yet.

The monsters weren't whispering in her ear, but they'd never go away. They'd never give her peace.

Raven didn't answer Qrow. She cut open an entrance to the dark pathways and stepped inside, slipping on her Grimm mask and returning to her people.

* * *

 _Mistral, Dawn, Today_

Once Qrow reluctantly agreed to go along, Debian rejoined them upstirs and went over the plan. They'd relocated to Ren and Nora's room so the former could continue his work on Yang's weaponry, now with added assistance from Ruby and her vast knowledge of armament.

"You two will enter here," Debian told Qrow and Yang, showing them a display of the southernmost gate on his Scroll. "Tell them you have to settle your duel with the chief and they'll let you in. I'm sure some will balk at _your_ presence-" Debian added to Qrow, "-so perhaps you should let Yang do the talking and not call any attention to it."

"Yeah, I like this plan better already if I know Qrow is gonna have to shut up," Yang observed.

Debian changed the display on his Scroll, showing a wider shot of the abandoned town, pointing to a treeline. "Your sniper will be positioned here; it'll give her a view of the common area. You two," he pointed at Nora and Ren in turn, "will accompany me through the northern entrance, and cover other possible vantage points."

"What about your buddy Amaranth?" Qrow asked.

"Playing the loyal soldier," Debian answered. "He'll make sure none of the other captains intervene."

Yang nodded. "How much longer?"

"I need to return before the chief awakens," Debian explained. "You should begin the journey shortly so you have time to rest before we begin."

Debian excused himself, and Ren took a moment to interrupt his work to follow his Aura, ensuring their inscrutable ally had left the building. Once he was sure, Ren nodded and set back to work on the gauntlet.

"Something wrong with it?" Yang asked.

"The firing mechanism isn't as efficient; probably too much damage from the arc of her cut," Ren explained. "It won't release as many pellets as its partner, and I'm sure it's lost some of its range." He noted a bit of yellow and black flake of the frame of the gauntlet. "And the paint's peeling."

Yang recalled spray painting that one along with her new arm back in Patch. It was a shame to see it reduced to this state, but at least it'd still be _some_ use. "But it'll still fire?"

"About half as often as the other," Ren dryly explained.

Ruby, however, seemed undeterred, pulling up some very colorful Dust shells. "I have an idea on how we can turn that into an advantage."

Ren reached over and handed Yang her left gauntlet, the one almost entirely unchanged since she built it at Signal and then took it with her to Beacon. Its only new feature was a long scar running over the wristlock where Raven's sword had sliced it free.

Ruby finished loading the Dust shells into Yang's right gauntlet and handed it to her. Yang tried to take it with her right hand, only to find her metal fingers already closed, trying to squeeze his hand again.

Only a bit longer… she only had to bear it a bit longer…

* * *

 _Kuroyuri, Late Afternoon_

Jaune had remained in the tent as Raven instructed. He'd felt rested –it was all but impossible for him not to be after the exercise he'd been put through and the long sleep that followed- but he was once again left to his own devices while things happened outside. No doubt the bandits had raided for more supplies, and maybe even ransacked a settlement to acquire them.

Remaining cooped up inside while crime was committed… Jaune hadn't thought he'd find a task more difficult than being tied to the life of a woman he didn't love and forced to do her bidding, but standing idly by while ill intent was spread around wasn't really any better.

After maddening hours of lying in bed or pacing the floor, Raven finally returned, bringing him another meager meal, this time of rice and beans. Jaune never thought he'd miss the substandard food he'd been eating at the inn in Mistral either.

She wasn't sharing the meal with him. Either she'd already eaten or hadn't felt the need. Once Jaune cleaned his plate, she pointed to the tent flaps and instructed: "Come."

Jaune followed her outside. On his way out he passed the hulking Amaranth, who'd stood outside Raven's tent through the night and nearly all of the day. Raven led him towards the town center, towards the dead trees and the crumbling rocks of a long decayed courtyard. The other bandits had gathered around, save the few still manning posts at the twin entrances to Kuroyuri. Three of the captains and most of the uninitiated were waiting.

"The time is upon us," Raven explained to her gathered tribe. "My husband and I will strike the enemy while they gather and I will regain control of the pathways. I will make us safe again. This struggle is near its end, I promise you."

The bandits murmured to each other, but seemed generally pleased with what their leader was telling them. Jaune leaned close to whisper in Raven's ear: "Does that mean it's happening today, or were you just being colorful?"

"It will happen today," Raven answered. "I hope you enjoyed your meal, Jaune. I hope you enjoyed what time you knew before today."

He wasn't sure how to reply to that, but Jaune focused on what Raven had done differently. "Just 'Jaune' now?"

"We are going back into the dark today," Raven reminded him. "You will be fighting at my side. I thought it best to remind you that you are still a person, and not merely a name. It's important to know what you're fighting for."

Jaune remembered why he'd agreed to help her in the first place. He'd planned on surrendering himself to Raven even before she'd forced his hand, and she'd told him doing so would keep Yang safe.

Whatever the circumstances, they were the enemy. The monsters in the dark pathways had to be stopped, and whatever he may have thought of Raven, Jaune agreed with her on _that_. "I'm with you," he assured her.

Raven might've been tempted to remind Jaune he had no choice in the matter, but held her tongue. He'd done as she'd asked, and knowing he was fighting beside her of his own accord was a far greater comfort than thinking she'd bullied him into line.

Things were becoming easier for him. There'd be harder tasks ahead, but if he made it through the day and the battle, he'd know his contributions had aided in defense of his world and those he loved. It'd strengthen his resolve and remind him why he bore the burden he'd chosen.

Reminders helped sharpen focus that way.

* * *

 _Six Months Ago, the Vytal Festival_

One of her subordinates had been watching the Vytal Festival tournament on his Scroll. He hadn't been assigned a task, so Raven allowed him the indulgence. She'd have paid the sight no more heed, until she'd heard the announcement of a competitor from Beacon: Yang Xiao Long.

Others were gathering around to watch the finals unfold. Raven could observe things discreetly enough, her presence nothing but idle curiosity. She'd be quite curious to see if her daughter –while still a _first year, no less_ \- could win the tournament on her academy's behalf.

She'd become a competent battler. Tai's handiwork no doubt… her fighting style was brawling and energetic like his. But her opponent… he was holding back. He was far better than Yang, yet he willingly took blow after blow from his much weaker adversary. Why?

Because he was _supposed_ to. Because he was playing his part, right under Ozpin's eye.

Whispers. Scratches.

They were active again. They sensed her fear.

More than that. They sensed opportunity, and not just from Raven. They sensed that things were about to change.

If Raven left quickly she could get to Beacon. She could save her daughter… save her for a third time before whatever was about to happen finished its motion…

What did it matter if she saved her a third time? Yang could be the exception to the rule. She'd _always_ been the exception to the rule.

Qrow was there, watching over Ozpin's pet project. He could keep Yang safe.

Yang fell into her enemy's trap. She struck him while he was wounded and helpless, even though he was clearly neither, having changed positions on the battlefield without ever taking a step. How had the dimwitted commentators –themselves trained huntsmen- not seen the obvious deception?

The scratches were growing louder. They were trying to break through.

Qrow would keep her safe. All Raven had to do was make sure things didn't get any worse on her side of the world.

She cut her way into the dark and pursued those who'd dared to trouble her again.

* * *

 _Kuroyuri, Today_

Raven turned her attention to the southern gate. She recognized that red cape and that mane of blonde hair coming towards her.

Jaune did too. He had the same reaction. "No…"

One of the uninitiated bandits, still clad in Mistralian gear, sheepishly informed them: "This girl says you never finished your duel with her, chieftess. She says that she has survived your blade and thus you must finish what you've begun."

Yang rolled up her shirt to show the bandage over her stomach. Qrow took a long drink from his flask and discreetly eyed the crowd, searching for any bandit eager enough to intervene.

"Now, of all times…" Raven snarled, " _Now_ you decide to return?"

Qrow belched as he lowered his flask. "Wasn't my call. This one's as stubborn as you are, Raven."

Yang glared up at her mother, then looked past her, her expression softening as she met Jaune's eye.

Raven _had_ to answer the challenge. There were onlookers, there was a formal declaration. Raven unsheathed her sword. "Very well."

"Raven!" Jaune objected.

Raven raised her blade and dashed in. She couldn't afford to take her time; Qrow was right beside her and the moment was at hand. She had to finish matters quickly.

Yang dove out of Raven's path and fired at her unprotected flank with the gauntlet on her left hand, raining down shots. Raven recovered quickly, her Aura absorbing two impacts before she cut away the remaining projectiles and moved to pursue her daughter.

Qrow continued to scan through the crowd as the bandits fled in multiple directions to give their leader a wide berth. Where was Debian's co-conspirator? Qrow only saw three captains…

Jaune rushed down, reaching after his wife and his lover, calling out to them to stop, even as Raven continued to frantically cut after Yang's retreat.

So like her, to try to go through an obstacle and never around it. Yang emptied her clip and moved to reload it, and Raven moved to capitalize. Yang fired from her right gauntlet, unleashing a burst of electricity-charged Dust into her mother's path. Even though Raven deflected it, the lightning ran over the surface of her metal blade, eventually finding its way down to shock her at her wrist, disrupting her Aura further.

Yang finished reloading and fired with her left, firing at close range. Raven continued to absorb the hits, and Yang began to notice her mother wasn't showing any signs of fatigue. She was moving rapidly and striking with fervor; when Yang fought her before while Raven was wounded, she picked her spots carefully. This was all offense without planning, and with much more energy than she should have had…

Jaune leapt in between them. "Yang, Raven, stop!"

Raven very nearly cut her husband but managed to stay her blade. Yang still had her left gauntlet leveled and glared past him. "Get out of the way, Jaune. We'll discuss this –all of this- after I'm done."

"Yang," Jaune tried to be assertive, but abruptly switched tactics. "Yang, I don't know why you're here or why this is happening, but this isn't a good time, okay?"

"Should I have texted you first to ask when I should come rescue you?" Yang dryly suggested.

"Yang… whatever you need to do, whatever this thing with Raven is, you _have_ to stop," Jaune told her. "We can't be distracted now. Not when we're about to go."

 _About_ to go? Yang kept her fist up. "What do you mean _about_ to go?"

"The monsters are going to try and come through, Yang," Jaune explained. "Raven and I have to stop them. We have to cut them off while we have the chance."

Jaune didn't lie to her. And his statement corroborated what she'd witnessed of Raven's ferocity. "You haven't gone yet? But we thought-"

* * *

Ruby waited on a high branch, staring through the scope of Crescent Rose as Jaune intervened, getting in the path of her shot on Raven. She hoped Jaune could persuade Raven and Yang not to kill each other and that shot would never become necessary.

Then a big patch of red got in the path of her reticle, and Ruby had to look away from her scope, and see a hulking brute of a man in red armor towering over her, even as he stood gingerly on the branch with her.

"Silver-eyed warrior," he observed. "Interesting."

Ruby's first instinct was to attack. She managed to ignore it as she frantically reached for her Scroll to warn the others, only for the red-armored brute to hoist her up by her shoulders and slam her into the wooden trunk of the tree, bashing her head again and again until she was unconscious.

Amaranth hoisted up her rifle, and small though it was in his hands, it was still a high impact rifle with a long barrel and firing from an elevated and otherwise unknown position. It'd do.

He lined up the sights and waited for the opportune moment.

* * *

At the northern gate, Debian knocked out the two bandits manning the entrance and then pushed the barrier open to let Nora and Ren in. As they drew closer to the courtyard, he started to steadily fall behind, keeping his movements as subtle and natural as possible, so he was only a step behind them.

Then he took hold of the short girl's hammer and struck each of them. Couldn't kill them, so he'd used something blunt. He'd need them for the final act.

Debian preferred knives. And this boy Lie Ren had one that would be perfect for the occasion.

* * *

Jaune reached over to pull down Raven's wrist, to lower her sword ever so slightly. "We all have issues, okay? But right now, we have a common problem. Monsters are going to force their way here and we need to stop them. _They_ are the enemy. _They_ are where we need to focus."

Yang finally lowered her gauntlet. Jaune turned to her. "Yang…"

"Jaune, whatever this is, whatever you've agreed to, we're getting you out," Yang promised him.

"Yang, why did you even come? Why are you trying to fight her again?" Jaune demanded.

Yang wasn't sure how to explain things. She could just say she'd made an agreement with a bandit to depose her mother and bring Jaune back, but she wasn't sure that was a good starting point.

She knew the point she wanted to make.

Yang stepped towards him, taking his hand in her right, clamping her metal fingers down over his. Before Jaune could say anything else, Yang reached her free hand up and pulled him into a kiss.

Raven was still irritated by the circumstances, but she was impressed by her daughter's initiative. It was no wonder she'd fought so hard for him before.

Raven had to alert Jaune to the incursion, but she could allow her daughter this indulgence… she took a step back and composed herself to speak.

That was a mistake. Time was of the essence, and Raven was being needlessly sentimental... and needlessly _weak_ in front of the tribe by allowing another woman to kiss her husband. That was as much a challenge to her authority as Yang's prior declaration.

She just wanted to take some pride in her daughter's act before things had to resume... before she stepped into the dark.

And then a sniper shot rang out as a bullet struck her chest. Raven's Aura managed to stave off the hit, but the force of impact caused it to ripple out and break down. She concentrated on the Aura Jaune had given to her, pushing it forward to fix the hole in the front.

Another mistake. They never would've relied on a single shot to kill her.

She heard a whistle in the air. She tried to turn, but knew it was too late. She saw a glint of metal out of the corner of her eye as the knife twirled through the air and imbedded in her back.

Raven fell forward almost immediately, landing hard on her knees. She felt blood rush up to her mouth and start to dribble down her chin.

Jaune heard her fall and managed to pull himself away from Yang, rushing towards her. He didn't reach her, as the unconscious forms of his two comrades –the girl in pink and the boy in green- were thrown over Raven's head and struck Jaune, knocking him over with their combined weight. Yang glanced between Jaune and Raven, stunned and confused, trying to comprehend what had occurred.

As Raven fell backwards she tried to adjust her landing so she ended up on her side, if only so the dagger wouldn't drive further into her back. She focused on the Aura, tried to route it backwards, but it was a flimsy shield trying to hold back a torrent of blood.

Lying on the ground, Raven saw Debian rush over, pointing at Yang, Jaune, and their friends. "The outsiders ambushed our leader! They didn't come to make a challenge; they came to assassinate her!"

It was hard for Raven to refute the logic of it. It certainly _appeared_ that way.

Qrow shouted something in protest. He tried to attack Debian, but the other captains got in his way. Even he couldn't beat four high-ranking bandits on his own, even if he was nearly back to…

Nearly back to…

Debian _had_ made one error. His timing could not have been worse.

They knew she was wounded. They knew she was vulnerable.

Debian may well have believed Raven when she told him of the battles fought in the dark. Debian knew that sometimes traversing through the dark left people behind who'd never reached the other side.

But apparently his ambition outweighed his caution.

Raven saw Yang try to help Qrow. The uninitiated bandits attacked the outsiders, as Jaune tried to crawl out from under his two friends, reaching towards Raven.

Her vision was getting dimmer. But she could hear them whispering. She could hear the scratching getting louder and louder.

And then she heard the worst sound of all, as one of Qrow's enemies stumbled over his own feet and fell before he could attack, succumbing to bad luck… succumbing to a distortion caused by his Semblance exerting itself and affecting time and space around its bearer.

Raven had to get up. She had to fight them before they-

The barrier collapsed. A portal opened over Qrow's head. The bandits halted their attack as claws reached out from the dark pathways, monsters reaching through, forcing a hole in their prison and trying to escape at last.

A portal opened at Raven's back. Spider-like legs -black as the dimension they hailed from- protruded outwards. Raven could faintly see the elder's eyes as it reached towards her, seeking to finish what it had begun, to claim the remnant apart for itself and its kin, and kill the woman who'd jailed them for so long.

Raven felt Jaune's fingers brushing her own. She felt her eyes slowly sinking shut…

* * *

 _The Fall of Beacon_

Raven heard that her daughter had survived the attack. It was what she'd needed to hear; what she'd longed to know once the feed had been cut. Someone had saved her life, though Yang had left an arm at the site of battle.

The Grimm occupied Beacon now. Ozpin was dead. Salem or her agents could have found the relic.

And the dark denizens had attacked in force, as though drawn –as though _summoned_ \- by the destruction wrought on the other side of the world. Raven exhausted herself fending them off, and in the time she'd fought them, her daughter had been maimed and the relic had vanished.

Raven didn't think the timing was coincidental. The monsters in between dimensions were intelligent, conniving… either they pounced when the Grimm attacked or when Raven's concerns became great enough to leave her vulnerable.

She had to stop thinking about Yang. There were bigger problems to consider.

The relic. The Grimm. The dark denizens.

So many questions. So many enemies. So little time left.

The world was becoming so very dark. She needed to find something to change the course she was on. Qrow and Ozpin had tried to use the powers of a Maiden to keep them safe…

But there was another action Raven could take; a more practical solution for the long term.

There were only four Maidens, and Salem had one. There were four relics, and one was either already in Salem's hand or right in the middle of a horde of Grimm.

Raven turned her attention to what she could fix on her end. A way to beat back the darkness before it encroached on both sides.

A light. A way to pierce the darkness and drive those denizens within it back into their cages.

She could find that. And now, it seemed, she _needed_ to.

Raven paid Yang no further heed. She was alive, that was enough.

There were still so many more to save.


	10. The Spark

**Chapter Ten: The Spark**

* * *

 _Beacon, Initiation_

Yang didn't mind the big slumber party in the auditorium… for the most part. There was that blonde kid who threw up on the ship to Beacon obscuring her view of more interesting male subjects while wearing some truly hideous footie pajamas, but at least the blonde kid's ineptitude was easy to ignore when he got lost in the crowd of first years.

Changing in the locker room the next day, Yang tried to suggest that maybe Ruby should be on a different team… not because Yang _didn't_ want to team with her sister, but because Ruby really needed to branch out and make new friends and not always rely on her big sister as the only member of her social circle, especially if she was going to spend four years at the academy and then start her career as a huntress. Yang would love to watch Ruby's back for the foreseeable future, but she wanted her sister to find her own way and see more of the world and all the people in it.

There was that Weiss girl… trying to ingratiate herself with Pyrrha Nikos, the former regional champion from Mistral. Maybe the two had got off on the wrong foot, but having a friend from Atlas would give Ruby an interesting perspective, if nothing else. And that incompetent blonde guy was trying to win over Weiss with what some terrible liar had convinced him was charm. It was sort of endearing in how assertive he was despite having the cheesiest lines, and how he earnestly squeed at recognizing Pyrrha on a cereal box. And it was quite entertaining seeing him forcibly ejected from the conversation when Pyrrha obliged Weiss's request to chuck her spear and snagged him by his hoodie.

"Having some trouble there, Ladykiller?" Yang inquired, trying to keep her comment subdued. Much fun as she was having at the poor guy's expense, she didn't want to be mean. Well, not _too_ mean, anyway. Ruby was far kinder, offering him a helping hand up.

"I don't understand," he bitterly muttered. "My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start," Yang dryly suggested, hoping the advice might sink in and he'd just try a new and innovative way to fail he next time she saw him, because Yang suspected he'd be quite entertaining.

"Come on, Jaune, let's go." Ruby offered, helping to support the blonde boy and lead him out of the locker room. Yang paused to watch them depart, taking in the sight of Ruby and her new friend. Blondie may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he seemed nice, and Yang couldn't deny he was funny, albeit not in a way he'd probably intended to be. And as an added bonus, Ruby had made a new friend.

And so long as Ruby was making friends with a boy two years older than her, Yang couldn't help but be pleased he seemed to be the most harmless guy around. Not that she'd mention it to either of them…

She'd probably see him throughout the semester and share a few classes with him over the next few years. He may not have been a hunk like she might expect a huntsman –even a huntsman in training- to be, but at least he'd be fun to have around.

Maybe she _should_ try to find Ruby and join her team. And Pyrrha had skewered Jaune's hoodie with her spear and he'd been completely oblivious to her showing a polite interest in him, so they might be fun to keep around.

She tabled that thought for later and set out to join the other first years, briefly catching the eye of the pretty brunette with the bow who always seemed to have her nose in a book before today…

* * *

 _Kuroyuri, Today_

Qrow knew things would go bad. He wasn't sure exactly _when_ the bandits would turn on them, but apparently they'd timed things in such a way as to try and eliminate all their enemies at once before either Yang or Raven could eke out a decisive victory. Then the sniper shot rang out, and Qrow knew things had gone wrong. There was no way Ruby would fire unless she thought her friends were in danger, and whatever dislike she may have harbored for Raven, she'd passed up several better opportunities to shoot when Jaune stepped in to try and talk some sense into mother and daughter alike.

Debian crossed them, and rallied the crowd to defend their leader. Qrow couldn't move to help his sister while a knife protruded from her back, or move to help his niece like he'd planned; and worse, while she was vulnerable, possibly even incapacitated. And then a portal opened over his head and horrible monsters from another dimension tried to force their way through it. Qrow knew this would go sideways, but he hadn't expected that to be quite so literal.

He hated being right all the time.

Fortunately, the bandits seemed much less inclined to continue fighting now that an extradimensional gateway full of monsters was directly above Qrow's head. Most of the weaker and uninitiated bandits had already run, and now the captains were withdrawing from him, tactical but also very _deliberate_ in their retreat.

Debian had been ordering the captains into the fray, but now stood stiff in the courtyard as spider-like legs pushed out of the portal beside Raven. His co-conspirator Amaranth had rushed down to join them, with an unconscious Ruby in tow. Qrow didn't bother waiting for an invitation and slashed the brute at his midsection, knocking off a big chunk of his Aura before extracting Ruby from his shoulder. Amaranth reached for his axe to respond in kind, only for Yang to strike his unprotected flank with a burst of shotgun pellet, sending him skidding back into the thinner Debian.

Jaune moved beside Raven while Yang and Qrow glanced around at the multiple enemies assailing them. In particular Yang focused her attention on the massive legs poking out of the portal beside Raven and Jaune, both because it was hard _not_ to, and that left Jaune and Raven in her field of vision.

Jaune took hold of Raven's wrist, willingly pouring his Aura into her to help Raven hold herself together. She was groggy, her eyes unfocused, and blood was dribbling down her chin. Jaune looked up from her to the portal, as four spindly legs reached to each corner and pushed at the red energy encircling the dark path, pushing at the edges of reality to widen the tear.

"Raven, they're here," Jaune told her. "We need you now. We need you to get up. Tell me what I can do. Tell me what _we_ can do."

His latter statement wasn't missed by Yang. Seeing him kneel beside her mother –his captor- and offering his aid irritated her far more than the bandits' betrayal or the giant monster ripping through time and space.

Yang had an idea what _she_ could do about it.

The blonde bruiser turned her attention to the spindly spider legs and turned her left arm loose, firing round after round at the segmented areas, trying to strike at any vulnerable joints. Her shots bounced right off the black carapace, some of the pellets falling harmlessly away, others fragmented from impact but causing no visible damage.

"Idiot," Raven spat, reaching towards her back with her free hand and ripping the dagger out. Jaune pressed a hand to her, applying pressure to her wound. "That one's an elder: it grew larger by swallowing the dark. You might be able to damage it if you can match the strength of its gravity, but I don't think your gauntlet has enough power for that."

Yang glared at her, still incensed at the sight of Jaune holding her at her back and her wrist. Yang may not have intended to _kill_ Raven when she and the others set up this operation, but she wasn't expecting Jaune to rush to her mother's rescue.

Qrow was slashing above his head at the arms reaching towards him. He seemed to be having better luck than Yang in actually driving some of the creatures back, but every time one arm (or wing or claw or tendril) retreated, another pushed down to take its place, and the black portal over his head just got wider.

"Yang, help the others," Qrow instructed, ceasing his attack only long enough to set Ruby down. "We need all that we can throw at this!"

It was a nice change of pace for her to agree with Qrow; they hadn't been in alignment too often lately. Yang moved to Nora and Ren, working to resuscitate them while Qrow just kept slashing at one appendage or another reaching down towards him.

Raven was doing better, her grip on Jaune's wrist tightening as she tried to pull herself up. Raven had only just managed to a sitting position and reached to her sword, only for Debian to drop down behind her, pulling his own dagger and holding it to her throat.

"There's an easy solution to this," Debian pointed out, speaking loud enough for the remaining captains to hear. "We _kill_ the twins who abandoned us and rid us of their curse. Kill both the Branwens and seal the barrier."

"You idiot, Debian," Raven sneered, looking down at the dagger just below her chin. "They've already torn down the barrier. Killing us won't save you now."

"Lies to save her own life," Debian countered. "She ordered us to spare her brother even though our code demanded he pay for his desertion. She canceled her duel with the girl so she could steal the boy to warm her bed. She put us all in harm's way just for her own selfish wish and never once let on her challenger was her own daughter. She dies, all our problems go away. She dies, and our tribe is stronger."

He didn't need to put in any effort to convince Amaranth, who'd already fixed his attention back to Qrow, axe at the ready, eager to resume their prematurely ended melee. The other three captains were weighing their options, but were clearly open to Debian's suggestion.

Yang, however, had not been idle, and -after an application of lighting Dust to help awaken her comrades- had found a pair of counterarguments to the thief's proposition.

A scraping sound drew their attention as a wooden handle and a metal blade scratched along the uneven pavement of Kuroyuri. Debian wasn't able to turn in time as he was slashed several times from behind, cutting through his Aura, before his dagger was pressed down and away from Raven by the flat of another blade: Ren's knife, the very same weapon he'd used to defeat a dangerous Grimm in this very same place.

"I believe this is mine," Ren reminded Debian as the thief reached to try and complete his strike at a vulnerable neck before Raven bashed his chin with the back of her head and sent the thief tumbling backwards in a heap, Ren kicking his dagger from his hand then pinning him underfoot.

Amaranth moved to assist his ally, only for his axe to land in the path of a hammer, Nora intercepting the larger thief, supercharged by the electricity Yang had used to revive her. The force of impact from Magnhild broke off the top of Amaranth's axe, shattering the twin blades of his weapon. Nora gave him a big smile before swinging hard, shattering his armor with the force of impact and knocking off what remained of his Aura. Qrow followed up by striking the back of Amaranth's head with the flat of his blade, flooring the much larger foe with the strike.

Non-lethal blows… Raven wasn't as surprised as she should have been. Qrow's time under Ozpin's eye had made him soft, and he'd lost some of his edge. The children, of course, suffered that indoctrination far worse.

Raven stood up and turned her attention to Debian. Releasing her grip on Jaune's wrist and reaching for her sword, she wasted no time in reaching down and skewering her former subordinate on the blade, before he had time to utter a protest and with barely enough time for Ren to move out of harm's way. Raven hoisted up his thin frame on her sword, Debian retching as he tried to pull himself off the sword imbedded in his midsection.

"Easy solutions," Raven repeated. "He dies, and our tribe is stronger."

"W-wait, I-" Debian tried to say before Raven abruptly slashed upwards and rendered it impossible for him to speak. Raven pulled her sword back as two parts of what had once been a treacherous captain fell on either side of her blade.

Her action done, Raven tuned her attention to the elder still widening the portal. Raven flicked the blood from her great sword and stepped towards her enemy, unsteady on her feet, falling to one knee before she took her third step.

Jaune rushed to support her, Raven leaning on her sword. She took hold of his wrist with her left hand and drew upon his Aura, but instead of using it to help replenish herself, Raven charged his light into her sword and struck at the elder's closest leg. The charge of Jaune's light combined with Raven bending the pathway on the surface of her blade did as she'd intended, sending the limb away to another point in the darkness and burning the elder with the light of Jaune's Aura. Though wounded, the elder did not retreat, still trying to widen the entrance with only three legs, glaring at her with dozens of eyes scattered through the entrance to the portal.

She needed to press the attack and force it to retreat, but she'd already lost a lot of blood, and she couldn't keep drawing on Jaune indefinitely, deep though his well was. But she had to push the elder back, because keeping two portals open at such close proximity would only make it easier for the rest of the denizens to pour through. She had to cut the head off the serpent. She had to strike fear into them now.

Raven forced herself to stand and slashed twice more, separating another leg and forcing the elder to lose its grip. Raven then refocused her attention on pushing down on the barrier with her blade, trying to, if not close the tear, at least make it a tighter space. The elder tried to push back, but without a firm grip lost its hold and tumbled back into the dark, howling its objection to the void.

The portal remained open, but it was too small for the elder to reach through now. Peering into the dark, Raven saw the elder change tactics, moving backwards, then up and around. It was heading towards Qrow, to regroup with the larger force, to push its way through…

It was no longer a multi-pronged attack, but so long as the second tear remained, so long as space remained distorted –and would continue to do so, now that Qrow was healthy again- they'd keep trying, and they knew their jailer was wounded again, and before they'd even had to fight her.

She had to pursue it… she had to give chase while their attention was on a single front, but she was so very tired… so drained…

Jaune was still holding onto her, still giving her his Aura. She tightened her grip on his wrist and pulled more in, whipping her head towards her three remaining captains, still simply looking on as Qrow continued to fend off the invaders and Nora helped to resuscitate Ruby. "Get the others to their posts now. Tell them to shoot and stab at these beasts until there's nothing _left_ to shoot and stab. If you want to live through the day, get in there and fight!"

Jaune reached his free hand to the small of Raven's back, below her stab wound, and helped her stand without swaying. Yang watched the motion, growing increasingly agitated at the sight of Jaune and her mother being so… she wasn't even sure how she'd describe it. She was still quite angry.

The bandit captains did as their chief instructed, calling for the others not wearing red and black to rejoin the fight. They were slow and reluctant to regroup, but those who hadn't fled Kuroyuri completely did return, using whatever weapons they could bring to bear to fire on the monsters encroaching on them.

Once her subordinates were working in tandem with Qrow, Raven turned her attention to the entrance still open beside her. If they could hold the line for just a short while, she could chase the elder and attack from behind. She just needed to keep moving, she just needed to keep fighting…

She'd have stumbled were Jaune not holding her up. "Raven…" he whispered.

"We have to chase it," Raven replied. "They know they have a chance now, and more of them will come. Either we kill their leader and scare them off, or they keep pushing until there's too many to stop. If we don't stop this now, they'll finish what they started and make it through."

"Raven…" Jaune said again, before sternly adding: "You'll die."

He was probably right. But Raven wasn't going to let that bother her. "You swore to do as I wished, Jaune. I'm going to fight them. Will you fight at my side or not?"

She already knew the answer. She just wanted him to reaffirm it, one last time.

Slowly, Jaune nodded. "I made a promise. I'll go with you."

Yang had heard enough. "And so will I."

 _That_ Raven was much less keen on. _That_ ran counter to everything she'd ever intended and all she'd done to keep Yang from their grip. _That_ was the _only_ thing Raven would not sacrifice.

"You won't be of any help," Raven bluntly told her. "You couldn't harm the elder and you've never fought in their domain before. Stay here and help your uncle on this end if you wish to help."

It was a harsh but pragmatic suggestion. It hid her objections well.

But Yang was every bit as stubborn as Raven. "I'm going with you. I'm not leaving Jaune alone with you in there, and just because _you're_ so insistent on dying doesn't mean I'll let the same happen to him."

Raven needed a new excuse. She needed to find a reason to dissuade her, to not bring her along. If Yang was in danger, or if the denizens whispered the right words in her ear…

Jaune turned his attention to Yang. Their eyes met.

A few fleeting moments ago she'd kissed him. Just as she had the first time, she'd taken a huge and dramatic leap despite any potential consequences. Whatever measure of caution her father's lessons had instilled in her, she was still daring and took what she wanted.

Jaune thought on her asking him if he regretted the choices they'd made, if their act prompted by loneliness, grief, and alcohol had been a mistake. He remembered the guilt he'd felt thinking of all he'd missed before, and trying to justify the circumstances that led to what he'd had with her.

He remembered when he took initiative instead and kissed Yang himself, and how she held his hand all throughout. He remembered how she constantly reached for it, how she never wished to let it go.

He remembered her confident statement before her duel against her mother, and how he'd squeezed her hand when she told him: _now and always_.

He remembered letting go of that hand as he'd finished saying what he needed to say to her, and left with Raven…

Jaune stepped between the two, fixing his gaze on Raven, still holding onto her with his left hand. His right reached over to take Yang's, and she was eager to squeeze his fingers. "I made a promise to her, too. I told her I'd stay with her… and for a moment I was desperate enough to save her life I forgot that."

Raven was incandescent. "I don't see why that-"

Jaune turned serious. "We're _all_ in danger: you said so yourself. So let's stop fighting each other and start fighting _them_. We _all_ have to fight together now, because we don't have any other choice. So whatever this is, whatever you think of her, she's here now and she can fight- I _know_ she can. So forget the past like you keep trying to do, and move on. Fight with her now. Fight with me now. Fight with _us_ now."

Raven's attention had not left her daughter, even with Jaune standing between them. Seeing the determination in her eyes, seeing the bloody red behind the cool lilac, Raven acknowledged that they'd need help, and it was probably best it come from someone brave enough to see things through.

And if they failed, Yang would die anyway. Raven would rather be at her side if this was to be the end.

"Very well," Raven agreed. "Let us meet our common enemy."

Jaune reluctantly released his grip on Yang's hand and hoisted Raven up in his arms. Yang didn't much care for the sight, but seemed much more willing to bear it and contain her anger now that Jaune had convinced Raven to include her.

Jaune stepped into the portal with Raven in tow. Yang was slower to follow, but hesitated only briefly before joining her lover in the dark pathways.

* * *

Ruby watched, still half-dazed, as her sister and her best friend disappeared into the black. She narrowed her eyes and turned her attention to the portal above her uncle Qrow's head, hoisting up her scythe and slashing at anything trying to find its way out.

Qrow, fighting beside his niece, her friends, and the bandits now forced into alliance with them, couldn't help but think how all this could've been avoided, if they could've found some middle ground to work together before had they not been subject to the whims of a teenage girl with a crush and the arcane rules of a bandit clan.

And his thoughts drifted to the collapsed cane attached to his belt and the hidden prize contained within it… and how if the moment came, he'd tell Ruby to take it to Haven and run. He'd have to be ready if the situation proved dire enough.

For now, however, fighting alongside his sister and his nieces and a strange alliance of convenience, Qrow did all he could to push back against the denizens of the dark.

* * *

Yang had some trouble orienting herself at first, finding no visible 'floor' to set foot upon in the dark pathways. Jaune helped her -having experienced the same disorientation on his first visit- and by latching onto him and letting him pull her along through the suffocating dark for a while she started to gain her bearings.

She wasn't exactly thrilled at the sight of Jaune carrying Raven around, but holding onto his shoulder made it easier for Yang to bear. She still couldn't quite manage to _look_ at Raven, however; every time Yang did, her mother seemed to be just a little bit _too_ comfortable in Jaune's arms.

They'd obviously… done something. Yang didn't want to speculate on exactly how far they'd gone, but each of them smelled enough like the other that she could guess, much as she desperately wanted not to think of it. But she could smell nothing else in the black corridor, and the result was her fixating on what her mother might've done to Jaune after she absconded with him.

In a strange place full of dangerous monsters, Yang was focused on what divided her from her mother and her lover -her only two allies in the dark- rather than think on the mission. She was still fighting against all her resentment for Raven, for besting her, for abandoning her, for stealing Jaune away… it all seemed so much easier to just let her anger swell than to try and push it back down.

 _She's taken everything from you. She can't help it: it's all she knows how to do._

Yang didn't want to hate someone; to have all her emotions towards someone be negative. But for Raven, Yang could think of nothing else. How Raven had hurt her, had hurt her father, had hurt Jane, how she'd even hurt Ruby, if indirectly.

 _He doesn't seem to mind being her captive. She may have already swayed him. She may have turned him against you._

Jaune threw himself between them to stop their fighting. Surely it was because he didn't want either of them to be hurt –he'd feel that way no matter what he thought of Raven- but Yang wondered when exactly he'd become so willing to aid her mother, ever ready to take hold of her wrist and offer his Aura.

Because he was genuinely concerned about the monsters in these pathways? He had been before, to the point of being willing to sacrifice himself for everyone's good.

But now Yang wondered if perhaps he was at Raven's beck and call because of… something much less noble; something she'd have never thought him capable of.

Then again, Jaune had surprised her quite a few times in the past few days.

 _She hurts you all the time. She'll never stop hurting you. And she'll hurt him, and make him hurt you too._

Jaune hadn't abandoned her, he'd saved her life. Jaune hadn't tried to leave her behind but instead given up what he could've had with Yang for her sake. Yet now…

It was a terrible thought, but… did he prefer Raven to her? After all, he was carrying her now, and not taking Yang's hand in his own.

 _He won't ever say it. He's too weak to say it. He'll just move on and disappear from your life… because of her._

Because of her.

 _Because of her._

She was wounded. That was why Jaune carried her. There wasn't anything more to it than-

 _He married her. He'd never marry you._

What? Why would she even think that? Why would that thought ever cross her mind? They weren't… Yang hand't thought…

 _They'll leave you, together. Whether he wants to or she poisons his mind or seduces him away, they'll go. They'll abandon you, just like everyone abandons you._

'Everyone' did _not_ abandon her, and she wasn't so irrational to think they had. These thoughts, this anger and jealousy and fear all compounding within her, they were something she wouldn't acknowledge.

She believed in Jaune. He was earnest and genuine and had been since the day she met him, falling all over himself to impress Weiss and being completely oblivious to Pyrrha's interest in him.

 _He wants to run. He wants to run because he feels like he betrayed her. Because you stole him away, and he dishonored her memory._

Yang feared that one might be true. At times she couldn't believe it herself, that she had ended up with Jaune of all people, and Pyrrha wasn't around to try and express the feelings everyone had seen but the poor, dense blonde boy she loved. Thinking of him listening to a recorded message from her, Yang wondered if things had gone differently, if they'd known then what they knew now, that Pyrrha might be alive and Jaune might've been with her, and Pyrrha might now be the one here with Jaune and Raven.

 _He's yours' now. Don't let her take him. Don't let her convince him._

Whatever could have been, Yang wanted what she had –whatever they couldn't name or define and couldn't decide upon- with Jaune and would never have that back while Raven had him in her grip. Even if they succeeded in destroying the monsters, something had to change. Yang still had to finish what she'd begun and finish her business with her mother.

 _End it here. Take him back and return to the others. Leave her to her fate, just like she left you to yours'._

The thought was appealing… even if she wasn't sure how to get back, Jaune seemed to have a sense of where to walk.

 _Just leave her and go. She can die alone, like she deserves._

Like she…

There were people in the world Yang hated. People to whom she wished terrible fates, after they earned them with their actions. Raven had done her so much harm, it was tempting to put her in the same category as people as horrible as Roman Torchwick and Adam Taurus.

But Raven was still her mother, and strong as her anger had become, Yang hadn't wished –even once- for her to die in a place like this. These thoughts she had now…

They almost sounded like…

Yang tugged on Jaune's shoulder. "We're not alone."

Raven glanced back towards her. Her eyes narrowed as she drove her sword towards Yang's head. Yang instinctively moved to dodge, only to see Raven's blade skewer something above her shoulder, pulling out some small winged creature, barely even visible as an outline impaled on Raven' sword. Her mother flicked the small beast away, and Yang heard no more of the devious and hateful thoughts.

Had they done this all along? Whispered in her mother's ear, appealing to her very worst instincts? If Yang had ever truly, abjectly _hated_ Raven she might've gone along with the suggestions the small creature had been offering her.

"It never stops," she heard Raven say. Yang wasn't sure who the message was directed towards: her or Jaune. Was it an appeal to kindness and comfort from the man holding her in his arms, or reassurance to her daughter about what she'd been exposed to?

Or was it just her own lamentation?

The air around them –or whatever it was they were breathing- seemed to thin, and Yang felt herself being compressed, and her body felt much heavier.

"The elder's at Qrow's portal," Raven explained. "We don't have long."

* * *

Qrow, Ruby, Nora, Ren, and the bandits had managed to acquit themselves well, fending off the many arms reaching out and pushing back the horde. They'd held fast and bought Raven, Jaune, and Yang the time they needed.

Until a massive spider-like leg pressed through the portal and slammed into the uneven pavement of Kuroyuri. Bullets bounced off the monstrous carapace. Swords bent or shattered when striking its frame.

The weak ones had failed, and a stronger one was taking its chance. They were running out of time. More of the bandits were fleeing the battle, and the former Beacon students were looking to Qrow for some guidance now.

Qrow slowly reached for the relic strapped to his belt. If Raven didn't hurry, he'd have to send it away, and keep it from this monster's grip.

A second arachnid leg forced its way through, widening the portal further…

* * *

As they drew nearer, Raven finally removed herself from Jaune's arms and walked alongside them. Yang was still attached to Jaune's shoulder even if it was no longer necessary for her to do so, finding something solid enough to stand on with them as they continued through the pathways. Raven was holding tightly to Jaune's wrist, drawing upon his Aura for the remainder of the trip, and at long last it was starting to affect him, as his steps were a bit more sluggish and his energy noticeably waning.

But they came upon them at last; scores, possibly more than a hundred of the monsters, illuminated by the light outside, the gate to Kuroyuri still open. At the center sat the massive, spider-like form of the elder, trying to pull the tiny portal open wide enough to fit through, as its smaller ilk kept trying to prod their way in after, while others simply watched and waited for their moment to follow after.

"This is better than I thought," Raven told them. "I was expecting more than one elder. You two should be of some help against the smaller ones."

"And I assume you'll take the big one?" Yang deadpanned.

"The elder has become dense by absorbing the gravity that ties the remnant and the fragment together," Raven answered. "It's grown larger and its prison has grown smaller… it happens to all these creatures. They feed on the darkness here and draw their quarters tighter."

"How did they even get here?" Yang asked.

"They tell different stories," Raven replied. "Some say they fell through cracks between dimensions, some say they were cast down here by someone strong enough to expel them. They all know they can't remain forever, because nothing –not even this darkness- is infinite. They want to return to the fragment or enter the remnant, whatever way leads to their freedom."

"Fragment?" Yang repeated. "Are you saying there's some other world like Remnant, or…?"

"It's… complicated." Raven offered.

"Yeah, okay, fair enough, tell us the whole thing later," Yang suggested. "What's the plan?"

"The light of Jaune's Aura burns them, and my blade cuts through the barriers that hold the dimensions separate," Raven explained. "Your own attacks may not be much help, but you should be able to at least push the smaller ones back and give us time to kill their leader. We kill the elder, and the others will flee. If we're strong enough to kill one as big as that, they won't risk their lives; they'll try and fight another day."

"Even when there's a way out right in front of them?" Jaune asked, jerking his head towards the still-widening portal.

Raven narrowed her eyes and thought it over. "Well, I _would_ suggest we destroy _all_ of them, but that may not be possible in the state we're in. We destroy the head of the army, and then if the rest want to keep fighting we hold them here."

"Fine by me," Yang agreed.

Raven took hold of each of them, pressing fingers to either shoulder, very deliberately using her left hand on Yang so as not to press her great sword against the blonde bruiser. "No matter what happens, we kill the elder. We stop them here, we push them back, we keep them locked away. There may be people left strong enough to stop even this many them, but _no one_ will be strong enough to stop _all_ of them if they have a way in. We kill the elder and we close the door… no matter what."

Jaune nodded. "Our friends –our family- are on the other side. We won't let anything get out."

Yang looked down at the gauntlet of Ember Celica still latched to her right hand, and the limited number of Dust cartridges she had. She'd have to get creative with her application, or she'd run out of ammo before she made a dent.

"I'm ready," Yang affirmed, standing up and readying her fist.

Raven took her hands from their shoulders and pulled on her Grimm mask, leveling her sword. "Jaune, with me while its back is turned. Yang, hit anything that tries to flank us."

Yang wasn't thrilled about taking orders from someone who stabbed her two days earlier, but the situation warranted her putting that thought aside. She simply nodded and reached past Raven, finding Jaune's hand with her right and giving it a squeeze.

Jaune squeezed her back, closing his eyes and focusing what remained of his Aura. He didn't have long to enjoy the moment, however, and followed after Raven, unsheathing his sword and raising his shield.

The beasts began to take notice as Raven drew near, stepping out from the empty darkness and onto the pathway. Jaune moved in their path, battering one winged creature away with his shield and pushing it out of Raven's way. Yang followed up by firing a capsule of ice Dust into the nearest group of foes, creating a frozen wall to prevent them from attacking her mother.

Raven herself switched from walk to run as she charged Jaune's Aura across the surface of her great sword, the red blade covered in the brilliant yellow hue of his light. She slashed across the elder's back with a fury, concentrating and directing her Semblance to push the piece of the elder she'd struck away from its body and into another segment of the dark pathways, its detached flesh still burning in the light of Jaune's Aura.

The elder reared back its head and uttered out a devastating wail, one that visibly affected Jaune and Yang as they reached to cover their ears, not used to sound waves being carried to them and _only_ them, with nothing else to refract against. Raven's mask did the trick, keeping her ears protected from the pain and allowing her to focus on her work, continuing her surprise attack for all it was worth, slashing the elder and sending bit after bit away to elsewhere in the void.

Raven ignored the pain of the wound in her back and ran over the elder's shoulder, jumping off and slicing downwards, segmenting two of the legs trying to tear the gate wider, and the elder lost its grip and tumbled down to the 'floor'. Raven concentrated on using her own Aura to manifest her Semblance, pulling the portal back together and narrowing the gap, before any of the smaller ones became opportunistic enough to get through. She hadn't _quite_ managed to seal the way through, but the monsters' exit had become little more than a slim crack. Raven then drew back and retreated, as the enraged elder spun around and swung its remaining legs after her, narrowly missing their mark.

She was still wounded, and she was sluggish, and now she was surrounded by the elder and scores of others who now saw their jailer had cut them off; and _sealed herself in_ with her prisoners.

" _Wandering light,"_ the elder snarled, as Jaune moved beside Raven to offer her his Aura. _"It seems you've returned to die in the dark."_

"Does it matter where I die?" Jaune defiantly asked.

" _No,"_ the elder conceded. _"It does not."_

Yang moved to join the two, standing with her back to them as the monsters moved to encircle them, waiting from above, below, and all around.

Jaune glanced back at her. Their eyes met.

Of all the ways they could've gone…

The elder staggered forward on its remaining legs and the other denizens descended upon them.

* * *

In Kuroyuri, the loose alliance of bandits, Qrow, and former Beacon students looked on as the monstrous legs were pulled back in and the gap between dimensions began to close back up. Only a small tear remained, and Qrow kept his attention on it. The three remaining captains and the two dozen remaining uninitiated bandits turned their eyes towards Ruby, Ren, and Nora. They slowly recognized that they were all armed and the bandits far outnumbered them.

Nora tightened her grip on her hammer. "Just try it."

They certainly seemed like they might try. Ren stood beside his partner, Storm Flower at the ready. Ruby, however, moved back to the unconscious body of Amaranth, slamming the ground beside him with her scythe. "See this guy here? The guy who helped _cause_ all this stuff? Why don't you guys just be angry at him and not turn on us for a while? Our friends are still in there, so this fight isn't over. Do you _really_ want to fight us now when you know those monsters might come back?"

They seemed willing to do just that, but Ruby had given them somewhere else to vent their anger. They dragged Amaranth into their horde and strung him up, and while Ruby wasn't much for the sight, she left the bandits to turn their aggression to the traitor.

It was a temporary measure, but it bought time. Qrow kept his eye fixed on the cut in the air above his head as Ruby came to rejoin him. "Uncle Qrow… what do we do if they don't make it out?"

Ruby hadn't trusted his word yesterday, or the day before that. No doubt she was frightened if she was able to show this concern and doubt to him. Either that, or she'd come to realize there were bigger problems than the white lies an uncle and a sister had told her.

"They'll make it out," Qrow assured her.

He believed that to be true. That wasn't a lie.

He really didn't want to lie today, if it could be helped.

* * *

In the dark pathways, the battle proceeded. Yang kept pushing the beasts back with shotgun rounds and put up a second barrier of ice to cover one of their flanks. Raven was continuing to slowly wound the elder, though Jaune was running out of Aura to give to her. The light coating her blade was growing dimmer, and wounded though it was, the elder was pressing on. The battle of attrition was starting to favor the dark denizens, as Raven's wound made her movements slow and predictable, and it was all Jaune could do to raise his shield and bash attackers away.

" _Submit to us, wandering light,"_ the elder called. _"Only together will we escape this place."_

"You _just_ threatened to kill me," Jaune reminded the monster.

" _The jailer will die. But you and the other can go free. All you have to do is stop,"_ the elder tried to strike at Raven again, but Jaune moved in front of her and hoisted his shield, taking the brunt of the monster's leg and absorbing the impact for her.

"You lied to me the first time we met," Jaune answered. "Why would I believe _anything_ you say?"

" _Because my offer is the only one where s_ _ **he**_ _lives,"_ the elder replied.

It stated it would kill Raven. That could only mean that-

" _Decide,"_ the elder snarled.

Jaune looked back at Yang as she continued to push back the smaller members of the horde, reloading the Dust capsules in her right gauntlet. She'd actually fended a few of them off, even if she couldn't quite see the beasts in the darkness. She was giving he and Raven this opening, but she'd eventually run out of energy or ammunition. She was wounded too, and she was fighting enemies she couldn't hope to defeat…

The elder had tempted him before by preying on his guilt over Pyrrha's loss. Now it was trying to find his guilt over costing Yang her life in letting her join in this fight; trying to give Jaune a way to save her life, to absolve himself of the responsibility of leading her to her death.

He remembered Yang kissing him from the doorframe in her room that first night. He remembered her challenging Raven for him, and how she'd explained herself to him in the clearing and convinced him she could perform the task. He remembered Yang deciding she would accompany them, even when she was told she'd be outmatched.

"Yang decides for herself," Jaune replied. "Her life is her own."

" _Her life is_ _ **mine**_ _,"_ the elder promised, raising its legs and driving them over Jaune's head.

"Yang!" Jaune called, spinning around and reaching for her.

Yang turned to glance, her hair flipping about the side of her head. She couldn't see the two massive legs descending towards her, but she could see something moving in the dark over her head…

Raven concentrated her Aura downwards, letting it guide her feet as she moved into place. In accelerating her pace, she had no Aura to coat her blade. She had no Aura to shield her body.

She knew this was a mistake. She knew this violated the very reason she'd come to wage this fight.

But if there was one life –even just one- that these monsters could _not_ claim, one she would never _let_ them claim…

She'd doom her tribe. She may well have doomed the remnant they all lived within and everyone in it.

Because there was one life she'd save more than once. One life –one single weakness- that changed her enough to forget what she'd believed in before, and tried to believe in all the way to this single moment.

Raven moved to shield her daughter, placing herself in the elder's path. Both of its legs impaled her through her chest and stomach, as Raven hunkered down and forced them towards the 'floor', slowing their motion. Raven was pushed back by the force of impact, but stopped just short of running into her daughter.

"Ra…" Yang began, before reaching out towards her, then looking down at the legs poking through her back.

Raven tried to turn her head. Yang met the eyes of her Grimm mask as she said: "I'm sorry…"

Raven slumped forward onto the elder's legs. The monster drew each spindly limb back as Raven fell to the 'floor' and lay prone there, blood pooling from beneath.

Jaune rushed over to help her, to try and pour more of his Aura into her, but he was already so low he wasn't making any noticeable difference.

The beasts around grew bolder, amassing. Yang looked down at her mother, her hand still pointlessly extended outwards as the darkness drew nearer and smothered all but the three of them, barely illuminated by the tiny crack left.

Raven had been so cruel to Yang, and harshly dismissed her both with her words and her sword. She'd made clear that Yang was too weak to be worth her time and that she was a lesser priority than Raven's tribe and her mission.

Yet now she'd sacrificed herself to save Yang's life…

 _Mother…_

Yang turned her attention to the biggest patch of darkness. She reared back her fist.

She'd tried to learn not to take the direct approach, and think before she struck. But she was angry, and she had to fight or her mother's sacrifice would have been for nothing. She had to fight or the monsters would kill Jaune and herself.

Her Semblance exploded outwards as her eyes burnt red. She didn't fire Ember Celica, merely swung with her right hand into the heavy darkness.

Light erupted from her fist and cut through the dark, slicing through the elder's leg and severing it. Aura poured out from her, Aura a brilliant, stinging yellow that coated the metal of her fist.

Yang paused as the elder howled in pain again. The sound didn't bother her; she was so transfixed by the Aura pouring out of her hand, by the weapon that had damaged this monstrous creature that could slay Raven.

The beasts whispered to each other as they drew back in fear. The light coating the elder's severed leg burned away its darkness, and the smaller beasts recognized the danger they were in.

Whispers…

Whispers…

* * *

 _Two Days Ago, Twilight_

"You shouldn't have done that. You idiot… you…"

Jaune knelt down beside her. He reached over and took hold of her right hand, squeezing her fingers tight.

"You…" Yang said again, struggling to insult him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to compose her thoughts, Jaune waiting patiently before her.

"It's not fair," Yang whimpered. "I just got back, I just found out how much you mattered to me… why? Why does it have to be like this?"

Jaune squeezed her hand tight, leaning in close and pressing his forehead against hers, indifferent to the sweat and messy blonde strands brushing against him. Yang continued her soft whimper, squeezing Jaune's hand tight.

"No matter what, I'm glad we found each other again," Jaune told her. "I'm glad… I'm glad it was you."

He slowly pulled his hand away, and Yang clamped down with her fingers. "No, please don't. Jaune, don't go-"

She could feel the spark growing fainter. She felt her fingers becoming colder already…

Ruby came over and joined them, saying her goodbyes to Jaune. Jaune hadn't released his grip on Yang just yet, still whispering… quietly saying something for her…

Something she couldn't quite make out… something about…

"… _and by my shoulder, protect thee,"_ Jaune finished as he stepped up and went to join Raven. Just as he'd sealed his bond with her, so too had he given Yang the same pledge, if only as a parting gift.

His Aura had already helped her with the pain. Binding it to her left her wishing for more, still reaching out to him, still trying to close her metal fingers around his hand.

* * *

 _Today_

Yang felt it burning in her like a roaring fire. She felt the heat in her fist, and the light now running along the surface of her metal hand illuminated the battlefield and the scores of enemies, and particularly the dozens of eyes of the elder, looking on in surprise and horror at the enemy it had underestimated, at the light in the darkness it had never seen or expected.

Jaune interceded and said they were the enemy. They threatened everyone, and wanted to envelop all the light under their smothering dark.

Yang wouldn't let her fire burn out. Not until she burnt all that darkness away.

Yang would follow her mother's plan and focus on the elder. Her path was clear.

She reared back her fist and swung, an arc of light slicing through the black and severing another of the beast's legs. The elder had lost four of its limbs and slumped forward hard before Yang, low enough now for her to strike with impunity. It had already been wounded by Raven, and now a softer part had been exposed, right in the path of Yang's fist.

She felt Jaune take hold of her left hand, pouring what he could into her to charge her one final time. It felt very strange to feel him holding her left hand… the spark remained in the right, and the motivation of holding his hand once again with her metal fingers drove her blow with more than just fury, but purpose.

Yang leapt up to punch down, closing the gauntlet on her right so as not to accidentally discharge. Hanging in the air above the elder, her fist shined brightly, the sun racing down to meet the night.

She landed her blow, the Aura exploding out and concaving down into the beast's head. Its howl of pain ceased before it could begin, as Yang's fist reached all the way down to scrape against the 'floor'. The darkness around her arm burnt away under the light of Aura, slowly fading and dissipating under the force of the burning light.

Yang had exhausted a good deal of her energy already, and her Semblance wouldn't last forever. But her light was shining brightly on her fist, and her Aura radiating off her body and illuminating the pathways. Even outnumbered as she was, she faced the horde of beasts without fear, eyes burning red.

Burning red just as their jailer's had. Just as they'd fled from before.

Their biggest and strongest was gone. Their way out wasn't large enough anymore for even their smallest to break through and there was no other elder close enough to pull it wider. And the light between them and the exit was burning so brightly they couldn't even bear to look at it.

Slowly, they began to withdraw, retreating from the overpowering light back into the empty black. Yang looked around her as they all rescinded and fled before her, disappearing into the darkness and drawing back as far as they could from her fury and power.

Yang heard Jaune move from her side back over to her mother. Yang turned to look as Raven forced herself to a sitting position and swung her blade at the gap, discharging one final burst of her Aura to seal the tiny crack and close off the path to Kuroyuri. Once the tear finished sealing itself she fell backwards, her sword clattering out of her hand as her head rested on the dark ground, her breathing fast and labored. Jaune helped remove her Grimm mask, revealing her flushed face and the blood still falling from her mouth.

Yang stepped towards them. Jaune continued to try and help her, but his light had run low. He couldn't give her enough to patch herself up, and she was still bleeding. Raven turned her head to look at Yang as she dropped down at her mother's side, resting on her knees.

For a long time they just looked at each other, though Raven's eyes were unfocused and her breathing so harsh. Raven reached a hand out towards her, brushing it against Yang's still flesh-and-blood left, and slowly Yang took her mother's hand in her own.

She'd answered the question once before. But Yang thought the answer might be different this time.

"Why did you save me?" Yang asked.

Raven knew her time was short, and there were no eavesdroppers who could use her weakness against her now. "This fight against them… from the day I left, I've fought them for you. No matter what I said, no matter what I told myself I believed… it was you, Yang. I couldn't ever lose you. Not to them. Not… not to anything."

Raven reaffirmed the grip with her right hand on Jaune's wrist. "You have to make it back to the other portal before it's too late. When the last of my Aura ekes away from within you, the entrance to this place will be sealed."

"We can get you out," Jaune assured her. "We can get you out in time and give you our supplies, and-"

Raven tightened her grip on him. "You swore you'd do as I asked. This is the last thing I'll ever instruct you to do: take my daughter out of here and keep her safe. Keep her _happy_. Don't let her live her life just to fight like I did."

Raven would've never believed those words coming from herself before Yang was born. Before she'd held the sun in her hands and wished only to feel its gentle warmth and not know its strength.

Slowly, Jaune nodded. "I promise."

"Thank you, Jaune," Raven told him, lessening her grip on his wrist. "I need… your Scroll."

Jaune reached his free hand into his pocket and pulled it out. Raven tapped against the screen, typing in four numbers, each divided into two sets of coordinates. "This is where I saw her last. I don't know if she's still there, but it'll give my brother a place to look."

Jaune was stunned by her generosity. "Thank you, Raven."

"Thank you for giving me some happiness, for reminding me of… for reminding me before the end." Raven answered.

Yang was still looking down at her mother when she turned her head back. Yang's eyes had shifted back from red to a soft lilac, with a touch of the bright blue her father had given her. She squeezed Yang's hand tight.

"I wish things could've been different," Raven admitted. "But I'm glad now… I'm glad that before the end I got to see the person you grew to be."

Yang tightened her grip as she felt her mother's weaken. She tried to tug on her mother's fingers, to will her to return. Her mother's head fell back as she closed her eyes, and Yang reached over with her right hand to shake her mother's shoulder.

She screamed in her ear. Tears fell from her eyes and splattered on her mother's cheek. Yang pressed her head low and listened frantically for a heartbeat as she searched everywhere for some sign, some reason to believe that even this fate she'd succumbed to had been another deception…

She felt Jaune's hand take hold of her right and hold her tight. Her eyes were still full of tears when she looked at his hand in hers', and then up to his eyes.

He didn't say it. He didn't dissuade her. He didn't force her back; he let reality set in at its pace.

Yang looked down at her mother's hands in each of theirs, and willed her tears away. The fight wasn't over yet. And Jaune had made her mother a promise.

* * *

When the crack above Qrow's head finally closed, the bandits no longer had reason to keep up the pretense of an alliance. Yet Ruby giving them their traitor had seemed to quell their bloodlust, and they didn't try to kill the man who'd abandoned them in the past, if any of them were old enough to remember him. Instead they stood sentry by the remaining portal with Qrow, Ruby, Ren, and Nora, each waiting for the result of the battle.

It was nearly sunset over Kuroyuri when they saw the portal began to shrink. Ruby turned to Qrow for an explanation but he averted his gaze. If the portal was closing from the other side, he knew what it meant. At least she'd managed to close the other entrance before she succumbed.

But Yang and Jaune… it wasn't fair this was how things had…

Yang stepped through the portal, carrying her mother's body in her arms. Jaune followed after her a moment later carrying Raven's sword, the portal shrinking behind them until it fully closed up, leaving them illuminated only by the sun setting behind them in the west.

The bandits looked on, stunned as Yang set her mother's body down before them, Jaune placing her sword beside. Ruby, Ren, and Nora moved over to embrace their loved ones, while Qrow looked down at his sister, knowing already that she was gone.

Yang embraced Ruby for a long time before slowly wriggling her way free of her little sister's hug. Jaune did the same after eventually extricating himself from Nora's firm grip, stepping towards Qrow and handing him his Scroll. "She wanted me to give you this."

Qrow looked down at the screen, at the coordinates Raven had provided. Looking down at his departed twin, he honestly wished she was standing up and boasting about how she'd outmaneuvered him. Right then, he'd have preferred his sister was alive than she had given him the intel he'd been seeking; that he'd been willing to trade an ally to obtain.

Jaune took Yang's hand and led her towards the command tent. The other three former Beacon students watched them leave while Qrow looked between Raven and the location of the Spring Maiden she'd given him as a parting gift.

All the things it had cost them… all the waste they'd allowed because of ancient rules, loyalties, and the whims of two unfortunate Semblances… how Qrow wished he could have all that again if only his sister had lived.

Ruby was watching Yang and Jaune step into Raven's tent. She was probably still feeling quite vulnerable, and looking for someone to lean on… but that wasn't the reason Qrow hugged her from behind. It wasn't strength he was offering her, just sorrow to share.

Ruby had doubted him recently, and probably still did, but she embraced him in turn, reminding him his family remained and hadn't let him so alone.

One of the bandit captains stepped over. Qrow prepared himself for a fight until he saw her raise both hands to show she was unarmed, before she pointed down to Raven's body, and more specifically, to her sword.

Qrow realized what was being asked. He turned his eyes to the tent and speculated on how Yang might take it.

* * *

In the dark pathways, the darkness absorbed by the elder faded away. The prison was a bit larger without one more occupant, but what it had taken to make itself stronger did not return to replenish. Other elders like it merely saw their way out had been closed, their opportunity to escape lost, and one fewer weak point in the remnant apart to try and enter through.

They had to shift their focus then. They had tried for too long to escape this way and their efforts had come to naught in the face of their jailer. They would find another way into the remnant apart.

She'd worn the face of the monsters called Grimm, the soulless entities that wandered the surface of the remnant. In their earliest life cycle they were made of the same darkness the denizens absorbed and wandered through. If they could not reach the surface and wash away its light, they would try to start at the very bottom rung and climb up through the dark.

Not today. In time…

* * *

Jaune directed Yang to sit in a rickety wooden chair inside her mother's tent. She might've preferred to lay in the big, comfy bed, but thought better of it when Jaune sat down across from her. The chair was comfortable enough now that she could rest again, and she didn't want to think of what had gone on in her mother's bed while Jaune had been her prisoner.

Her mother… Yang had thought that her mother was cold and ruthless and cared nothing for her. Yet now…

A single selfless act didn't absolve Raven of her misdeeds, of all she'd taken, of those she may have killed, or the harm she did to Yang, Jaune, or her father. Yet if what Raven had said was true –if she'd finally spoken the truth after telling Yang so many lies- then she'd fought this battle for Yang's sake, and demonstrated that so when she sacrificed herself.

Yang thought she knew how to feel about her mother before then. Now she wasn't so sure how she'd remember her. Would she remember the woman who harshly dismissed her or the woman who held her hand and thanked her for being at her side in her final moments?

She looked up at Jaune, who was patiently watching her from across the table. For a long time she just looked into his eyes.

Five days ago, he was just her friend, and not her closest or her most beloved. Now, this was the man who'd bound his soul to hers', who'd been at her side for her mother's final moments, who'd shared her bed and held her hand and reminded her of who she was and what she could aspire to…

Yang reached over for his hand again. She hoped she wouldn't _always_ feel the need to take his hand in hers', but right now there was no feeling more comforting.

He took it. She felt the spark once again, and his Aura mingling ever so slightly with her own.

She wasn't sure what her feelings were. She didn't want to proclaim something if she didn't know for sure. So she didn't say it. She didn't force him to say it back.

She stepped up and brought him up along with her, and took the time to kiss him, to feel his embrace again. Jaune held onto her, supporting her when she needed someone to see her vulnerable, to not be strong for the sake of others, as her mother had wished for her and as Jaune had promised.

Yang broke her kiss and glanced outside. "I think we're done here."

"I don't know," Jaune suggested. "I think we're just getting started."

Yang liked his thought process, but thought there might be a better time and place for anything more intimate. "Later, Ladykiller. That's a promise."

When she led him back outside she found Qrow, Ruby, Ren, and Nora waiting just beside the tent flaps. She was suddenly very glad she'd decided _not_ to let things get any heavier.

Then she turned her attention to the remaining bandits. The three surviving captains were standing a few feet away, all their subordinates crowded around behind them. One of the two women stepped forward to Yang, holding out her mother's sword by the flat of the blade before dropping to kneel.

Yang looked on in confusion as the other two bandit captains did the same, and then a sort of ripple flowed through their congested followers, all of them dropping to one knee and bending their heads low.

"Yang, you have defeated our chief and proven your strength," the captain explained. "Your allies have revealed the traitors in our midst and fought beside us in our darkest hour. As victor of the duel, as defenders of our people, we pledge our fealty to you. This tribe invites you into our family, to sit at the head of our table and ride at the head of our army. From today until your last day, we are yours'."

Yang was still looking on in shock at the people kneeling before her. She glanced over at Qrow, who sort of shrugged at her. Then she looked to Jaune, who only squeezed her hand and smiled.

Yang reached her free left hand to the hilt of her mother's blade. She'd never been one to try and swing a sword around -especially not one as tall as she was- but she found the grip fit well in her hand.

Leadership of the bandits… again, not something she'd have ever expected. How circumstances changed…

Yang turned her attention to her mother's body, still lying in the courtyard. She hoisted her sword high in the air. "I have a task for you all."

* * *

At twilight the bandits finished construction of the pyre. One of the captains handed her a torch, and Yang stepped over beside the pile of sticks and leaves she'd rested her mother's body upon. Yang briefly thought of asking them to bury her underground, but thought it might be a better way to go if her light carried upwards into the sky rather than sank below the dirt.

Yang thought of words to say, but couldn't compose anything more eloquent than: "Goodbye… _mom_."

She lit the pyre and cast the torch away. She reaffirmed her grip on the scabbard now strapped to her waist and the hilt of the sword within it, another piece of her mother's legacy Yang now carried with her.

She moved to stand between Jaune and Ruby. Each took either of her hands in their own as they looked on at Raven Branwen, clad in her armor -save for her Grimm mask- and slowly being consumed by the growing flame, eventually disappearing from their view in its light.

Yang looked at the bandits gathered around. None of them seemed to mourn her death. None of them seemed eager to remain and witness this funeral. "Go and make amends," Yang instructed them. "Return to your homes and never pillage again."

 _That_ they liked even less, but none seemed willing to fight her on it. Yang wasn't sure there was any way she could really enforce that order –nor would she try too hard- but the bandits did disperse, gathering their things and the food they'd gathered and departing from Kuroyuri, some sticking together and others going off on their own. The three captains tried to discuss with one another, but apparently couldn't come to an agreement and went their separate ways, none able to yield command to the others.

"They'll come back in one form or another," Qrow told her. "Their kind always do."

"Then we'll stop them when we have a spare moment between fighting Salem and all her minions," Ruby assured. "We're together again. We can do just about anything as long as we're together."

 _Not quite anything_ , Yang thought, though she didn't want to dampen her sister's mood now that she'd regained some of that innocent exuberance she so loved seeing.

And she wasn't exactly wrong. What she'd done, what she'd just gone through… it'd all have seemed impossible if she thought it up just a few days prior. Yet now it was all real. The hand she held in her right was proof of that.

Yang looked over at Jaune again. When he smiled at her and squeezed her hand, she did believe she could do impossible things. Because she _had_.

Yang turned her attention back to the pyre as her mother moved on, while Yang lingered with her sister, her uncle, her lover, and her friends, once again finding that even without her she had all the answers she needed, and light that shined brightly even in the dark of night.


End file.
